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The tragic death of Martina Rossi, an Italian tourist who fell from a sixth‑floor hotel balcony in 2011, has continued to echo through the courts. In Palma, two Italian youths were involved in a case that culminated in a murder sentence, and families pressed for compensation for the loss of their daughter. A new civil action seeks 1.4 million euros in moral damages, filed in Arezzo, Italy. The defense has asked a broader liability analysis, and a hotel operator may be named as a potential party in the dispute. The international dimension of the case means the Mallorca hotel operator is being questioned to determine responsibility for safety measures at the balcony where the fall occurred. The case was postponed to September to allow these procedural steps to proceed and to summon the business owners in Palma.
The death of Martina Rossi stands out as a rare and complicated legal process. The fatal fall occurred the morning after August 3, 2011, at a hotel in Cala Major, a site formerly known as Santa Ana and now operating under the Be Live Marivent brand. Police investigations found no criminal evidence, and a Palma court of inquiry ruled the incident a suicide. Martina Rossi’s family disputed this conclusion and pursued alternative investigations, which led Italian authorities to reexamine the events in 2012.
After a lengthy criminal trial that prompted significant public attention in Italy, two young Italians were initially sentenced to prison for serious offenses. The Supreme Court later concluded in October 2021 that Martina Rossi fell while trying to escape a sexual assault, and it upheld three years in prison for the two defendants, though they served only a few weeks before being paroled. This ruling closed one legal chapter but opened another, as Martina’s parents pursued renewed litigation in Italy against the two convicted individuals. A source close to the case, corroborated by Diario de Mallorca, confirms that a civil action was filed in a court in Arezzo toward the end of the previous year, seeking 1.4 million euros in compensation for moral damages arising from their daughter’s death (Diario de Mallorca, Prensa Ibérica).
The presiding judge has sent the defendants back to face further proceedings and postponed the hearing to the next Tuesday, while defense counsel argued for including the hotel management company in the case as a potential liable party. This demand is tied to the hotel’s safety practices and the height of the balcony railing from which Martina Rossi fell.
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The plaintiffs’ lawyers pressed for a thorough assessment of whether the balcony railing met safety standards, especially in terms of its height. The judge granted the motion to postpone the hearing to September to complete the necessary procedures and to summon the business owners in Palma. The property in question has been through name changes, from Santa Ana to its acquisition by the Be Live chain, operating now as the Marivent hotel. Those named in the current judicial process include the new owners who inherited responsibilities tied to the incident.
Alessandro Albertoni and Luca Vanneschi, two Italians who faced trial in connection with Martina Rossi’s death, were charged with attempted sexual assault and attempted murder, offenses linked to the same incident. Their initial sentence was six years, but the second count was deemed time-barred due to the lapse of the legal period. These conclusions reflect the complexities of the case, which spanned multiple jurisdictions and legal frameworks.