Rimini, September 17, 2026 – Insults, personal attacks, very harsh comments and, in some cases, even the hope that the accident would have a fatal outcome. Words appeared on social media while Marco Galvani, a well-known hotelier from Rimini, was still fighting between life and death and continued, according to the family’s complaint, even after his death.
The family denounces the ‘keyboard warriors’
Now the partner and the son have decided to say enough and to take legal action. Galvani’s family has entrusted lawyers Alessandro Pierotti and Ettore Coppola with the aim of protecting the memory of the hotelier. A complaint has been filed with the Rimini Public Prosecutor’s Office against the “keyboard warriors” and serial “haters” and some of the authors of the contested content, the lawyers say, have already been identified.
Hit while on an electric scooter
The incident started on the evening of June 29, when Galvani, 63 years old and owner of the Hotel Cortina in Marina Centro, was involved in a serious accident along State Road 16. The hotelier was returning home on an electric scooter, after leaving his car at the workshop, when he was hit by a van traveling in the same direction. Rescued in desperate condition, he was transferred to the Trauma Center of the Bufalini hospital in Cesena.
Fatal injuries
The doctors had tried for over two days to save him, but the injuries sustained in the impact proved fatal. The full reconstruction of the accident and any responsibilities remain entrusted to the investigators. Already in the days following the crash investigators were working on the surveys carried out along the State Road, on visibility conditions and on any images from cameras in the area.
“Unacceptable comments”
It is precisely on this aspect that the family now insists: until the investigations are concluded, the lawyers emphasize, no one can replace the competent authorities and independently reach conclusions about the dynamics or responsibilities. Immediately after the news of the accident, the family claims, dozens of comments appeared on Facebook – some with very harsh tones – referring to Galvani. “At the most painful and dramatic moment of their lives — while the hotelier was fighting on his deathbed and immediately after his death — the family, including the little son, found themselves forced to read unacceptable comments posted on Facebook by dozens of users, many of whom reside in Rimini – explain lawyers Pierotti and Coppola -. Despair and tears had to give way to shock in the face of several dozen defamatory remarks, personal attacks and, in some cases, actual hopes that the outcome of the accident would be fatal.”
Insults even after death
Then came the death of the 63-year-old. But, according to the lawyers, the trail of comments did not stop. In some cases, according to the complaint, it went beyond insult, reaching the point of hoping for a fatal outcome of the accident.
It was at that point that Galvani’s partner and son chose to entrust lawyers Pierotti and Coppola, asking that light be shed also on what happened in the virtual world and that any responsibilities be identified.
“Serious defamation via social media”
“From a legal point of view, it is essential to reiterate that the internet is not a free zone,” emphasizes lawyer Pierotti. The lawyer particularly recalls the ability of social media to multiply the spread of a message: “Defamation committed via social networks is as serious, if not more so, than traditional defamation, because the network exponentially amplifies the scope and dissemination of the harmful message.” “Posting an offensive post or comment on a public wall or in a group makes the conduct accessible to an indefinite number of people, constituting public offense,” Pierotti continues. “Case law has now very clearly established that publishing an insult online is legally equivalent to pronouncing it in a public square. The authors of such conduct incur the same civil liabilities, compensation for moral and material damages, and criminal liabilities.”
