Milan: Neapolitan restaurateur Fabrizio Mele dies in a motorcycle-SUV accident; driver under investigation

Naples – A violent road accident in Milan late on the morning of Saturday, January 3, 2026, claimed the life of Fabrizio Mele, 37, a Neapolitan restaurateur working in the Lombardy capital.

Mele was riding a Honda X-Adv motorbike with his 24-year-old girlfriend when the vehicle collided with a Cupra Formentor SUV at the intersection of Via Sforza and Piazza Francesco Carrara.

According to an initial reconstruction, the crash occurred near a traffic light. Investigators have not ruled out failure to yield the right of way, but the details are still being investigated by the local police, who responded to the scene to conduct investigations.

Emergency responders arrived on the scene. Mele was transported in critical condition to the Humanitas hospital in Rozzano, where he died shortly after arrival. The young woman was transferred to Niguarda Hospital and remains hospitalized in critical condition, classified as red.

The driver of the SUV has been registered as a suspect in the accident for road homicide, a necessary step in the initial stages of the investigation to allow for technical and non-repeatable investigations.

Mele was well-known in the restaurant industry: he owned the restaurants "L'Angolo di Napoli" and "Ciccio Pizza" and, reportedly, had recently taken over the spaces formerly occupied by "La Malmaison," a private club connected to Davide Lacerenza's Gintoneria, which closed in recent months near the Central Station. In the hours following the news, numerous messages of condolence appeared on social media.