Lollobrigida’s assistant ‘cut late star off from family’
GINA LOLLOBRIGIDA, the Italian film star who died earlier this month, was cut off from her family by her assistant and lived in misery for the last 10 years of her life, her only son has claimed.
Lollobrigida, who appeared in dozens of films across a decades-long career, died on Jan 16 at the age of 95.
When details of her will were made public this week, it emerged that she had divided her €4million (£3.5million) fortune between her son Andrea Milko Skofic, and her former assistant, 35-year-old Andrea Piazzolla. Speaking to La Repubblica yesterday, Mr Skofic accused Mr Piazzolla of ruining the last years of his mother’s life by isolating her from “everything she held dear”.
Mr Skofic said Mr Piazzolla had effectively erected a barrier around the film star, shutting her off from him and many of her oldest friends.
“For three years, I wasn’t even able to get into her house,” he said. “Her friends kept ringing me to ask why no one answered their phone calls. Nearly all of her closest friends were kept away from her. Everything was in his hands.”
Mr Skofic told the Guardia di Finanza, Italy’s finance and police force, that he feared his mother was being exploited by Mr Piazzolla who, since 2010, had been her “factotum” and close assistant. In July 2020, state prosecutors charged Mr Piazzolla with having taken advantage of the elderly star, stealing an estimated €3 million in goods and money from her patrimony.
The prosecutors argued that Mr Piazzolla also tricked her into selling 350 of her artworks, sculptures and furniture.
In particular, they alleged that he conned her into signing three contracts agreeing to sell the items, “abusing her state of vulnerability”. Mr Piazzolla has always denied these charges.