Milan appeal court fully acquits Massimo Galli in university competition case

Appeal court clears both defendants

The Milan Court of Appeal fully acquitted Massimo Galli, an infectious disease specialist who once headed the infectious diseases unit at Sacco hospital in Milan, in one strand of an inquiry into alleged rigged university competitions. His former collaborator Agostino Riva was cleared alongside him. The judges ruled that 'the fact does not exist', which erased the sentence of one year and four months, suspended and without entry in the record, imposed at first instance in July 2024. The ruling came on 9 November 2026.

The false-record charge

The last remaining accusation against both men was falso, linked to a record carrying a time entry that had never been corrected. That single point had kept the case alive after the first-instance court acquitted Galli of bid rigging. The alleged rigging concerned a university competition said to have favoured Riva for an associate professor post. Il Giornale reported that Galli had been accused of backing one candidate over a more qualified one for a second-tier professorship in dermatology, infectious diseases and gastroenterology. Riva's acquittal on the accusations against him was confirmed on appeal, so neither man now carries a conviction from this case.

The case in key dates

The timeline below traces the milestones in the case, from the notice of investigation sent to Galli to the appeal verdict.

Galli received the notice of investigation on 5 October 2021, five days before he retired after 40 years of service. The first-instance conviction followed in July 2024, and the appeal ruling came on 9 November 2026, more than five years after the investigation began.

Galli's reaction

In an interview with il Giornale, Galli described the period as one of personal and professional strain. He said:

“I have spent five terrible years, in which my personal and professional honour was called into question, and that is what weighed on me most.”

He described the notice of investigation as a lasting memory, saying it had been devastating on a human level and a groundless blow to his reputation. A granddaughter was born a few days after the notice arrived. Galli said he was relieved, but he also stated that the acquittal was not yet definitive, while adding that the substance of the facts did not seem to encourage the Milan prosecutor's office to continue. ANSA's headline described the acquittal as definitive, so the two accounts differ on that point.

Career and remarks on university hiring

Galli is widely known for his role in Italy's Covid-19 response and for his work fighting AIDS in the 1980s. In the interview he said he had worked pro bono in African countries and that he still studies after fifty years since his graduation. He said he was preparing a lecture for infectious disease doctors. He called the case a very Italian story, arguing that the way university competitions are run is outdated. He said serious and rigid criteria are needed, but that universities must also be able to choose specific profiles.