Profiles

Who are Bartolozzi and Delmastro: venom and trouble from Almasri to Caroccia

The two have bonded in recent years, after Bartolozzi left Forza Italia in 2021

by Rome Editorial Staff

24 March 2026

Il ministro della Giustizia Carlo Nodio (dx) con il capo di gabinetto Giusi Bartolozzi (sx) e il sottosegretario Andrea Delmastro Delle Vedove durante la presentazione del calendario della polizia penitenziaria, Roma, Martedì 2 Dicembre 2025 (Foto Roberto Monaldo / LaPresse)

Justice minister Carlo Nordio (right) with head of cabinet Giusi Bartolozzi (left) and undersecretary Andrea Delmastro Delle Vedove during the presentation of the penitentiary police calendar, Rome, Tuesday, December 2, 2025 (Photo by Roberto Monaldo / LaPresse) LAPRESSE — Il ministro della Giustizia Carlo Nodio (dx) con il capo di gabinetto Giusi Bartolozzi (sx) e il sottosegretario Andrea Delmastro Delle Vedove durante la presentazione del calendario della polizia penitenziaria, Roma, Martedì 2 Dicembre 2025 (Foto Roberto Monaldo / LaPresse) Justice minister Carlo Nordio (right) with head of cabinet Giusi Bartolozzi (left) and undersecretary Andrea Delmastro Delle Vedove during the presentation of the penitentiary police calendar, Rome, Tuesday, December 2, 2025 (Photo by Roberto Monaldo / LaPresse) LAPRESSE

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Bartolozzi's past in Forza Italia
The break-up and the relationship with Delmastro
Who is Delmastro

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The constitutional referendum on the separation of careers ended not only with the rejection of the reform, but also with the demissions of two officials of the Ministry of Justice: the undersecretary Andrea Delmastro and the chief of staff Giusi Bartolozzi. Two exponents who began their political journey differently, but their paths crossed a few years ago.

Bartolozzi's past in Forza Italia

Bartolozzi, a 55-year-old magistrate born in Gela (Caltanissetta), has worked mostly in Sicily (also in Palermo). In 2017, she met Silvio Berlusconi (she had been introduced by Gianfranco Miccichè, leader of Forza Italia in Sicily) in Arcore together with her partner, Gaetano Armao, now vice-president of the Sicilian Region. The following year she was elected deputy to the Chamber of Deputies from 23 March 2018 to 12 October 2022.

Calenda su dimissioni Delmastro e Bartolozzi: Tardive, ora è il turno di Urso e Santanchè

The break-up and the relationship with Delmastro

After a few years, the last in contrast with regional politics, nin November 2020 Bartolozzi in the Chamber of Deputies voted against his own group and, a few months later, voted against the party's indications on an amendment to the reform of the criminal trial. From there, she left Forza Italia and joined the Mixed Group. It was then that she became closer to some exponents of Fratelli d'Italia, including Andrea Pollastro, and was then appointed chief of staff to Carlo Nordio, taking on a crucial role within the ministry. It was in this role, last November, that she was investigated by the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office on charges of perjury for the investigation into the release of the Libyan general Almasri, accused of torture, first arrested in Italia and then repatriated by a plane of our country's secret services.

Parliament has halted the ministerial court's investigation into undersecretary Mantovano and ministers Nordio and Piantedosi. But now the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office is ready to request an indictment for the now former head of the cabinet, accused of providing false information to pm. Her version of events was in fact defined by the judges of the ministers' court as 'unreliable' and 'mendacious'

The former right-hand woman of Minister Nordio has also been at the centre of violent controversy in recent weeks for some statements she made during the election campaign. During a televised debate she called for a yes vote to 'get the judiciary out of the way', which she said was like 'a firing squad'.

Words that have unleashed the entire opposition in demanding the resignation of the most prominent executive of the Ministry of Via Arenula, renamed the 'Tsarina'. A nickname that originated within the ministry, where the climate of poison has led to the resignation of a series of top figures, including that of Luigi Birritteri, head of the Department of Justice Affairs (Dag) in April last year, who handled the Almasri case, as well as the head of the Department of Judicial Organisation Gaetano Campo and the head of the Dap Giovanni Russo.

Who is Delmastro

Delmastro's past, however, has always been linked to Fratelli d'Italia. After all, he is the son of Sandro Delmastro, who was a lawyer and politician with Alleanza Nazionale. The same party in which his son militated after starting out with the youth organisation of the Italia Social Movement. He began his political journey at a local level, in Biella, later moving on to Fratelli d'Italia, with which he was elected in 2018 to the Chamber of Deputies, where he devoted particular attention to the prison system.

His tenure as undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice, which came with Nordio in 2022, was also marked by judicial events. In 2023, he was entered in the register of suspects by the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office for the alleged crime of revelation of official secrecy, concerning confidential information communicated to MP Giovanni Donzelli about the judicial case of the anarchist Alfredo Cospito. On 20 February 2025, he was sentenced in first instance to eight months' imprisonment and one year's disqualification from public office, with general extenuating circumstances and a suspended sentence.

Another controversial case involving the former undersecretary is that of the shooting during a New Year's Eve party in 2024 that cost a 1 year and 3 months sentence for MP Emanuele Pozzolo, later expelled from the FdI and now with Vannacci.

For the exponent of Fratelli d'Italia, the last judicial trouble, the affair linked to alleged business dealings with the Caroccia family, believed to be close to the Camorra-based Senese clan, proved fatal.

The case of the company 'Le 5 Forchette', a limited liability company in which the undersecretary held shares, has ended up under the lens of the public prosecutors of Piazzale Clodio, who have opened an investigation for money laundering and fictitious registration against Mauro Caroccia, who is currently in prison to serve a four-year sentence, and his 19-year-old daughter, who appears as a shareholder in the company that owns the Roman restaurant 'Bisteccheria d'Italia'. At the moment, Delmastro is only touched by the activities of the Dda, which has entrusted the Guardia di Finanza with a delegation whose first objective is to ascertain the nature of the money used by the Caroccia family for the company (current accounts and tax returns will be scrutinised) and the way in which they came into contact with Delmastro - who is said to have frequented the restaurant until last January - by signing the agreement in front of a notary in Biella.

The matter could also come to the attention of the public prosecutor's office of Torino precisely because the company was established in Biella. But the competence of the subalpine Dda could only take root if a mafia-type aggravating circumstance were hypothesised for the 'fraudulent transfer of values', the criminal code offence concerning the attribution of offices and shares in a company to front men.