JUDGES from Italy

Top 3

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Italian Judges of all time. This list of famous Italian Judges is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Giovanni Falcone (1939 - 1992)

With an HPI of 70.01, Giovanni Falcone is the most famous Italian Judge.  His biography has been translated into 42 different languages on wikipedia.

Giovanni Falcone (Italian: [dʒoˈvanni falˈkoːne]; 18 May 1939 – 23 May 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian Mafia. After a long and distinguished career, culminating in the Maxi Trial in 1986–1987, on 23 May 1992, Falcone was assassinated by the Corleonesi Mafia in the Capaci bombing, on the A29 motorway near the town of Capaci. His life parallels that of his close friend Paolo Borsellino. They both spent their early years in the same neighbourhood in Palermo. Though many of their childhood friends grew up in an environment in which the Mafia had a strong presence, both men fought against organised crime as prosecuting magistrates. They were both killed in 1992, a few weeks apart. In recognition of their tireless effort and sacrifice during the anti-mafia trials, they were both awarded the Gold Medal for Civil Valor and were acknowledged as martyrs of the Catholic Church. They were also named as heroes of the last 60 years in the 13 November 2006 issue of Time.

2. Paolo Borsellino (1940 - 1992)

With an HPI of 65.57, Paolo Borsellino is the 2nd most famous Italian Judge.  His biography has been translated into 35 different languages.

Paolo Emanuele Borsellino (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpaːolo borselˈliːno]; Sicilian: Pàulu Borsellino; 19 January 1940 – 19 July 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian Mafia. After a long and distinguished career, culminating in the Maxi Trial in 1986–1987, on 19 July 1992, Borsellino was killed by a car bomb in Via D'Amelio, near his mother's house in Palermo. Borsellino's life parallels that of his close friend Giovanni Falcone. They both spent their early years in the same neighbourhood in Palermo. Though many of their childhood friends grew up in the Mafia background, both men fought on the other side of the war against crime in Sicily as prosecuting magistrates. They were both killed in 1992, a few weeks apart. In recognition of their tireless effort and sacrifice during the anti-mafia trials, they were both awarded the Gold Medal for Civil Valor. They were also named as heroes of the last 60 years in the 13 November 2006 issue of Time magazine.

3. Carlo Biotti (1901 - 1977)

With an HPI of 44.27, Carlo Biotti is the 3rd most famous Italian Judge.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Carlo Biotti (1901 – 10 December 1977) was an Italian judge, the President of the Court of Milan and a Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Cassation. His forced recusal from the case brought by the widow of Giuseppe Pinelli against the police commissioner Luigi Calabresi in 1971 became a cause célèbre. Biotti was the presiding judge in the case brought by the widow of Giuseppe Pinelli against the police commissioner Luigi Calabresi. Calabresi had led the investigation into the Piazza Fontana bombing. Pinelli died in mysterious circumstances during a police interrogation following the bombing. On 27 May 1971, Biotti was recused at the request of Calabresi's lawyer, who claimed that in a private conversation Biotti had admitted that for career reasons he had already formed an opinion on the case. It was a claim that Biotti vehemently denied. Calabresi's attorney sought the recusal when Biotti ordered that Pinelli's body be exhumed. Neither Biotti nor his two fellow judges were convinced that Pinelli had died from falling from the police station window. His forced recusal not only prevented the exhumation of Pinelli's body, but delayed the investigation for two years. Biotti fought for years to clear his name and in November 1974 was completely exonerated by the Court of Florence. He died three years later at the age of 76. In the 2012 film Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy, the character of Carlo Biotti is played by Bob Marchese. From 1964 Biotti was also a director of A.C. Milan.