Gina Lollobrigida and the mystery of the missing legacy: the sad story of a diva who only wanted to “die in peace”

In one of his last television interviews Gina Lollobrigidatired of having to answer for the marriage scam, the people close to her, the courts and all the scandals she had to face in the last part of her life, she said, with watery eyes and a trembling voice, a sentence that still resonates today: “I have the right to die in peace.” We would like to say that Gina Lollobrigida’s wish has come true but, unfortunately, this is not the case, given that since she left, it has once again taken a painful turn in her person to hold sway in the newspapers and on television: the inheritance and the tense war between Andrea Piazzolla, the factotum who has always been at her side, and Andrea Skofic, the actress’s son. The two, always reading the newspapers, never tolerated each other, to the point that Skofic often accused Piazzolla of having “brainwashed” his mother with the aim of appearing among the beneficiaries of the inheritance, even if this time the picture is particularly disheartening, given that there would be nothing left of Gina Lollobrigida’s assets.

In court, Piazzolla accepted the sentence of seven years and six months, the maximum foreseen by the penal code for the crime of circumvention of an incompetent person, with apparent serenity: «The relationship between the victim and the accused was unbalanced. There is manipulation and there are a series of acts against her own interest on the part of Gina Lollobrigida”, stated the prosecutor Eleonora Fini, supported by an expert opinion which would attest that the actress was easily influenced due to a certain vulnerability took over over the years, something strongly contested by the defense, represented by the lawyer Filippo Morlacchini. According to the indictment, between 2013 and 2018, Piazzolla allegedly took houses, jewels, cash and cars of Gina Lollobrigida aiming to have control of her assets, but the person concerned denies it, saying that it would have been the actress herself who had donated her fortune to him in perfect autonomy. But how much has been lost? According to the civil parties there would be nothing left of the others «ten million euros» counted in Lollobrigida’s assets when Piazzolla entered her life.

Piazzolla would have entered the life of Bersagliera at 21 years old «as a laundry delivery boy», choosing to leave her studies to dedicate herself completely to the actress, moving to her villa on the Appia Antica. From that moment on, according to Lollo’s son, Piazzolla would have exercised her influence on her mother in order to distance Gina from her affections by advocating causes such as the eviction of his nephew Dimitri from his outbuilding and his exclusion from the administration of the «Vissi d’Arte» company. The defense, however, is not there: «It was an opinion influenced by the media which, even before the complaint was filed, had already labeled Piazzolla guilty. This is a sad process in which an attempt is made to make a moralistic and censorious attitude prevail towards a great old woman who enjoyed her last days thanks to the affectionate care of a young man. Piazzolla saved her life several times, and not just in a broad sense.” In short, the mystery continues, but we are sure that, having reached this point, Gina Lollobrigida herself would have raised the white flag to finally rest in peace. Without her name continuing to be tarnished by scandals and inheritance issues to which the actress herself has always given little importance.