- Patrizia Reggiani is portrayed in House of Gucci as the mastermind behind Rodolfo Gucci’s forged signature, but she was never formally charged in real life.
- Maurizio Gucci was accused and initially convicted over the forgery; he later contested the charges and was cleared in a subsequent hearing.
- Court allegations named secretaries Roberta Cassol and Liliana Colombo as participants in the signature controversy, not Patrizia.
H2: How House of Gucci Frames the Forgery
Ridley Scott’s film centers Patrizia Reggiani (played by Lady Gaga) as an ambitious figure who manipulates events inside the Gucci family. The movie suggests she engineered the forgery of Rodolfo Gucci’s signature to help her husband, Maurizio, secure control of company shares. This narrative choice heightens drama and ties Patrizia to several key plot developments leading up to Maurizio’s murder.
H2: What Really Happened — The Legal Record
In reality, the forgery storyline is more complicated and less focused on Patrizia. Rodolfo Gucci did die before signing the document that would have transferred shares, creating legal and tax complications. When Maurizio moved to consolidate power, his uncle Aldo and Aldo’s sons sued.
Court documents and reporting show that accusations centered on Maurizio and his staff. His secretary, Roberta Cassol, was alleged to have been asked to forge signatures and, when she couldn’t, reportedly delegated the task to her assistant, Liliana Colombo. Those claims forced Maurizio to leave Italy for Switzerland; he denied wrongdoing and called the allegations a premeditated attack by his uncle.
Maurizio was initially found guilty in connection with the signatures but was later cleared at a subsequent hearing. Throughout this legal saga, Patrizia’s name did not become a formal part of the prosecution. She was not officially charged with signature forgery according to available reports.
H3: Testimony and Media Reports
Some contemporary reporting, including a Los Angeles Times piece, notes testimony from an assistant who accused Patrizia. However, that testimony did not prompt a full-fledged legal investigation into Patrizia’s involvement. Court proceedings and the lawsuit primarily targeted Maurizio and the staff allegedly involved in the document alterations.
H2: Why the Film Changes the Story
Screenwriters and filmmakers often compress and reassign events to serve a central character’s arc. House of Gucci makes Patrizia the focal point to allow audiences to track a single driving force through the story. Placing her at the center of the forgery plot builds a narrative bridge between her social ambitions and the darker actions that culminate in Maurizio’s murder.
H3: The Bottom Line
While House of Gucci dramatizes Patrizia Reggiani’s role in the forgery, historical records do not show she was formally charged. The forgery accusations in real life focused on Maurizio and his staff—Roberta Cassol and Liliana Colombo—with Maurizio later being cleared in a retrial. The film’s version is a dramatized interpretation rather than a strict account of legal history.
Image Referance: https://thecinemaholic.com/patrizia-reggiani-forge-rodolfo-gucci-signature/