"It blocked my view of the street." This was the excuse used by a 58-year-old man in Alghero in 2024 to set fire to an eight-meter palm tree. He committed the act while intoxicated, and the consequences could have been far worse. The flames had come very close to a tourist resort, eventually touching a workshop, threatening to cause the gas cylinders on the premises to explode.

A fire started by a lighter, which the perpetrator later handed over to the police along with another explanation for his act: “I wanted to clean the filth out of this place.”

There had been little doubt about the man's responsibility from the beginning, because he had been noticed by passersby hiding in the bushes a few moments before the fire started, but later he also confessed to being responsible for the incident.

In recent days, the 58-year-old was sentenced in court by preliminary hearing judge Giuseppe Grotteria to one year and ten months, suspended. Prosecutor Angelo Beccu had instead requested a sentence of two years and four months. During his arguments, defense attorney Salvatore Masia focused on the man's condition, recalling that his client had been living in extreme personal and social distress for some time.

Already the perpetrator of other borderline acts, from throwing stones at parked cars to slashing tires, the defendant had been declared competent to understand and decide.