Bologna, August 15, 2026 – “If you don’t leave, we will come get you and throw you into a well”. These and other phrases, shouted to the four winds in video content published on social media, led to entrepreneur Paolo Pazzaglia being registered as a suspect for threats directed at Mayor Matteo Lepore. Among the twenty suspects for aggravated threats using the IT method, the name of the former playboy and historic owner of the Capannina nightclub also appears, a renowned venue on the hills that made three generations of young people dance and ended up at the center of a long legal battle with the Municipality (lasting about half a century) over some unauthorized spaces contested to the property, which culminated in the demolition in 2020.
In short, Pazzaglia’s resentment towards the municipal administration undoubtedly has deep roots going back a long time. But in recent days, with the videos published on his social channels against Lepore, the entrepreneur directly attacked the mayor, with phrases that have come under the scrutiny of investigators who are investigating the threats for which Lepore filed a complaint, eventually ending up under protection.
“I have not been served anything, but I will send everything back to the sender”
Pazzaglia, reached by phone by Carlino while on vacation on a boat, remains unfazed: “I have not been served anything yet. And if something should arrive, I will send everything back to the sender.” And again he addresses the mayor: “If there is something bothering him, let him inform my lawyers,” he says, adding a reference to those lawyers “colluding with the mayor, who have caused damage to Bologna and my venues.”
Outbursts on social media
But let’s rewind the tape: after the night of guerrilla warfare on July 20, which broke out on the sidelines of the demonstration called in the square by the mayor for the death of Abderrahim Fakir, the 42-year-old who died in Pilastro during a police detention, the former owner of Capannina vented on social media with strong and even provocative tones: “Lepore, do you think that if they were to kick you out, when you walk down the street they wouldn’t punch you in the face? – he asks in a video – I would be the first, but this is not a declaration of war: it’s an instinct.” And then again: “I think you have to be careful when leaving your house, with all those who don’t think like you. Or you have to put a battalion of your ’street vendors’ under your house to protect you and your family.” Up to, “if you don’t leave we will come get you and throw you into a well. We won’t kill you, but we will take you to a highway and then you will go to North Africa,” calling the mayor a “gravedigger” because he organizes vigils for “kids who died, committed suicide, were raped, killed.” There are also other unrestrained phrases, like “people like me will come to kick your ass…”, or insults like “you’re a poor guy” or worse. All phrases that have landed him under investigation.
Pazzaglia’s registration in the register of suspects, of course, does not mean that the entrepreneur is guilty of the alleged crimes. The complaint by Mayor Lepore (his lawyer is Tommaso Guerini) will be filed in the coming days with the Prosecutor’s Office and the postal police.
