MILAN — A Milan court has ruled that the will of Silvana Barbieri, the mother of Patrizia Reggiani, is legally void due to irregularities. This ruling could establish Reggiani as the primary heir to an estate estimated at approximately 20 million euros, which includes real estate and rental properties in Milan. The case is now awaiting review by Milan's Court of Appeals.

Barbieri executed her will in 2018 at the age of 90 from a hospital bed. A notary and former family lawyer Maurizio Enrico Carlo Giani assisted in the process. The contested will had named the Fernando and Silvana Reggiani Foundation as the beneficiary of Barbieri's assets. Giani established and directed this foundation. Discrepancies between a mobile phone recording of the will's execution and the notarized document were identified by judges in their ruling.

Barbieri's housekeeper recorded the 2018 meeting. The housekeeper later testified that Barbieri instructed her to record the interaction to create evidence in case of future legal disputes. Giani was acquitted in 2024 following a criminal investigation that alleged undue influence over the will's contents. If the Court of Appeals upholds the voidance of the will, Reggiani would inherit the estate.

Reggiani, known as Lady Gucci, is 77 years old and resides in Milan. She orchestrated the 1995 murder of her ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci, an heir to the Gucci fashion house fortune. Reggiani was sentenced to 29 years in prison for premeditated murder in 1998, following a five-month trial that also convicted four accomplices. She received an early release in 2016 after serving 18 years of her sentence.

Reggiani and Gucci, who married in 1972 and finalized their divorce in 1994, had two daughters, Alessandra and Allegra. An Italian appeals court ruled that she remains entitled to alimony payments because the divorce agreement was signed in 1993, prior to Gucci's murder. The daughters have opposed the continuation of these alimony payments, but courts have consistently upheld Reggiani's legal right to them. Reggiani receives about $1.5 million in annual alimony from Gucci's estate. The 2021 film House of Gucci, directed by Ridley Scott, depicts the events surrounding the murder.