Naples, Santangelo's daughter accuses him of being "marked by 17 years of trials."

Naples – Sabatino Santangelo, former deputy mayor of Naples under the Rosa Russo Iervolino administration, took his own life Monday morning in his Neapolitan home. A day after the tragedy, his daughter Mariella recounted the ordeal in an interview with Repubblica Napoli: "My father was deeply affected by an accusation he considered unjust. After that incident, nothing was the same again."

The woman rules out any direct connection to the latest judicial developments. She's referring to the investigation into the Bagnoli cleanup, which has engulfed Santangelo in a 17-year ordeal: six trials, the last of which—a new trial—was scheduled for March 6th.

"There's no connection to what happened," Mariella clarifies. "My father loved Naples; he received much joy from it, but also too much pain. He was exhausted, tired after a bad bout of flu. In the last few weeks, he felt dejected, but until the very end, he was his usual self."

Santangelo's extreme gesture refocuses the spotlight on a personal tragedy intertwined with a controversial chapter in Neapolitan administrative history. The reclamation of Bagnoli, an area symbolic of degradation and speculation, has sparked years of investigations into alleged urban planning and environmental violations, with prominent defendants facing trial at multiple levels of jurisdiction.

The length of trials: an Italian emergency

The daughter's words open a bitter reflection on the Italian judicial system, where proceedings that drag on for decades undermine the lives of the accused. Seventeen years under accusation, with six proceedings for the same case: an ordeal that, regardless of guilt or innocence, leaves incurable wounds.

Cases like this—not isolated in the country—fuel the debate about urgent reforms to speed up justice, preventing waiting from becoming a punishment worse than the sentence.