Friday, April 05, 2013

The New Palace Of Justice In Florence Where The Repeat of The Appeal Will Take Place

Posted by Our Main Posters



[Click above for a larger image]


The huge new Palace of Justice in north-west Florence was fully opened in January 2012.

It was built on the site of a former FIAT factory. It is Italy’s second largest Palace of Justice after that in Turin (in Rome the justice functions are still distributed) and one of the most modern and spectacular in Europe.

Several thousand people work in the building, including the judges, lawyers, clerks, police and support employees.

It houses all the civil and criminal courts for Florence, and the higher courts for the province of Tuscany. Also the chambers of the chief justice and all other judges. Also the office of the prosecutor general and chief prosecutor and all prosecutors. Also the office of the judges for preliminary investigations (GIP), and also all the associated police and support functions.

It was inaugurated on 23 January 2012 by the Minister of Justice Dr Paola Severino and the Mayor of Florence Mr Matteo Renzi (images below) and It frees up nine sites in the center of Florence for other business.

It was designed by the architect Leonardo Ricci (now deceased), is 240 meters long and 146 wide, with a tower of 72 meters, the second highest in the city. The occupied building area is about 800,000 square meters.

The largest courts are on the ground floor, and the upper floors house smaller courts and the offices for all the judges and prosecutors.


























Above: the January 2012 inaugural opening ceremony. Front from the extreme left the Chief Prosecutor (red tie), the Mayor of Florence (red, white and green sash), the Central Government Minister of Justice (white scarf) and the Chief Judge (beige coat).

The Chief Prosecutor Dr Giuseppe Quatrrocchi and the Chief Judge Dr Fabio Massimo Drago will be ultimate overseers of the new appeal. They will appoint the prosecutors and judges who will preside.

The Chief Prosecutor is already heading a contempt of court investigation into the many false claims of criminal behavior in Sollecito’s book. He seems certain to need to do the same if Knox’s book transgresses.

False claims in either book may incur additional years in prison, and millions in civil damages.

Posted by Our Main Posters on 04/05/13 at 07:26 AM in Appeals 2009-2015Florence 2014+

Comments

Pete, thanks for the pictures and profile on this new Palace of Justice. It’s beautiful, and to me does look like a palace of sorts!

My mother was named Florence, so when my parents visited Italy many years ago, it was a definite stop on their tour. They loved it. My parents had a great appreciation for art, architecture, and history. My Dad bought my mother a three-colored gold ring on the Ponte Vecchio, which she gave me shortly before she passed away. It is one of my most treasured possessions. I hope to visit Florence as well, someday!

Posted by Earthling on 04/05/13 at 11:05 PM | #

Nice story Earthling. All Italy is astonishing in this ability to juxtapose the extreme ancient with the extreme modern. There doesnt seem to be any mundane stuff in between. You’ll find this in Perugia too: interiors of say the boutiques are highly modernised.

By the way in case you are wondering, judicial and prosecutor relations between Periugia and Florence are excellent.

Doug Preston made Stupid Statement About Italy #1024 the other day when he claimed that Perugia and Florence justice officals dont get along and therefore this is hopeful for Knox.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/03/27/douglas-preston-on-knox-and-italian-crime-system/2025167/

WRONG. Totally untrue. There was a REASON the case was referred to Florence, and it wasnt to give Knox and Sollecito any breaks. The appeal is to be done right without emotions.

Note that the contempt of court charges for Sollecito’s book could have been referred for investigation to any jurisdiction in Italy. The Perugia officials themselves CHOSE to send the charges here.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 04/06/13 at 12:17 AM | #

What a wonderful website. Thanks to all those involved.

It would be useful to have a forum where questions can be asked. As I cannot find one please excuse me asking something that has been bugging me.

Upon finally opening Merediths door there seems to have been no attempt to see if she was still alive and required help. Obviously, given what we know now, this is a moot point. But at the time noone could have known if she had been attacked perhaps minutes before. Any thoughts?

Posted by dadredge on 04/06/13 at 04:19 PM | #

@ Pete

The complaint calling for contempt of court/defamation charges against Sollecito & Gumbel could be filed in any prosecution office (or in any Carabinieri or Police station), but the case would have been forwarded to Florence; because Florence is the only Procura with jurisdiction in cases where Magistrates of Umbria are involved (people of course cannot “chose” their judges).

Anyway Florence is quite an “urban” venue compared to Perugia, as you can see from their offices; there is a lot of people working there and I bet they are not going to lose much time on the case against Knox and Sollecito.

Posted by Yummi on 04/07/13 at 02:52 AM | #

@dadredge
I’m not at all qualified to state about your query, but as no-one else seems to have responded…I have noticed several references to seeing ’ a foot…piede…’ facing them, which was, tragically, blue.

Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 05/17/13 at 01:15 PM | #

@Earthling
Quite off topic for everyone else - but my mother was also called Florence, and gave me her gold ring just before she passed away.

A very special place,and lovely to see the tradition for exceptional architecture being maintained.

Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 05/17/13 at 01:19 PM | #

@Earthling
Quite off topic for everyone else - but my mother was also called Florence, and gave me her gold ring just before she passed away.

A very special place,and lovely to see the tradition for exceptional architecture being maintained.

Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 05/17/13 at 01:19 PM | #

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