Governor Francesco Acquaroli of the Marche looked drawn after learning that Fabio Pistarelli, the aide he trusted for five years, had been arrested and taken to prison in a wide investigation into reconstruction after the earthquake. Pistarelli was chief of staff from 2020 until December 2025.
His name appears in the strand of the inquiry concerning alleged corrupt agreements to steer the award of contracts and public procedures. According to the investigative report, the former chief of staff received benefits worth about 105,000 euros in all: at least 60,000 euros in cash and further benefits of about 45,000 euros linked to renovation work. Investigators treat those sums and benefits as connected to the corruption hypotheses under review by the judiciary.
In a video published on social media, Acquaroli spoke of betrayal. He said the feeling concerned his personal relationship with the former collaborator, the communities hit by the 2016 earthquake, and the meaning of a role meant to support the institutions. He said it would be a betrayal of the Marche community and of people in the quake-hit areas who were waiting for answers and had trusted the regional work to recover what those dramatic moments had taken away. He added that it would also be a betrayal of those who chose him to represent the values he believes in and to help improve the region and the community, and of himself: when he made that choice at the start of his 2020 mandate, he said he could not have imagined a day like this.
When Pistarelli resigned after five years beside the president, the public explanation was a wish to move closer to the territory and return more fully to legal practice. Corridor accounts described strong tensions with the president over the contribution expected of him as regional chief of staff, which would have led to resignations under pressure. The Brothers of Italy group noted that he has been outside the regional structure for almost a year.
The Brothers of Italy group in the regional council said President Francesco Acquaroli is an injured party and that this must be stated at once. From what emerges in communications from the prosecutor's office, the group said, the president and the regional executive are extraneous to the contested facts. It said the former chief of staff would have acted on his own account and that some of the conduct under investigation would not have taken shape precisely because his appointment had ended.
The group said it has full confidence in the judiciary, that any responsibilities must be established in the competent venues, and that anyone who committed offences will have to answer before the law without discounts or protections linked to political affiliation. It said it firmly rejects attempts to attribute other people's responsibilities to the president and the regional administration, and that an investigation into individual conduct should not be turned into a political trial against those harmed by that conduct. It said the judiciary should establish the facts and that politics should respect the truth without confusing personal responsibilities with those of the institutions.