“The fact does not exist”. The acquittal arrived yesterday in court in Sassari pronounced by judge Silvia Masala, for Giuseppe Pirisi , the condominium administrator of the building in Alghero that, on 18 July 2017, caught fire and has been uninhabitable since then.

The man had been accused by the Sassari prosecutor's office, and by the prosecutor Paolo Piras who had requested a one-year sentence, of negligence, incompetence, and imprudence. According to the prosecutor's conclusions, the 66-year-old had failed to clean a shaft where leaves had been found, burned after a cigarette had accidentally fallen, thus starting the disaster. The fire started in a room on the ground floor and, as it spread, destroyed 49 homes.

The expert opinions , requested by defense attorney Francesca Fiori, had not found any responsibility on Pirisi's part, and so yesterday, after seven years of trial, the sentence arrived .

A proceeding which, among other things, had seen all 36 civil parties gradually withdraw .