The Court of Review in Naples has allowed former Sorrento mayor Massimo Coppola to serve house arrest at his home in Sorrento, ending almost a year and a half away from Campania.
The decision accepts an appeal filed by Coppola's defence lawyers. Coppola had been arrested in May 2025 and, after a period in custody, had been placed under house arrest outside the Campania region. The new order permits him to serve the measure in Sorrento.
According to the reports, an earlier request to serve house arrest in Sorrento had been rejected by the court in Torre Annunziata, which had also taken into account the opposition of the prosecution. The defence then appealed to the Court of Review in Naples, which ruled in Coppola's favour.
The same court had previously reduced, following another defence appeal, the amount of the preventive seizure imposed on Coppola.
All charges against Coppola remain allegations in ongoing proceedings. No final determination of his responsibility has been reported in the sources consulted, and the full text of the latest Review Court order was not available in the press reports.
Background: the so-called "sistema Sorrento" case
The case concerns municipal contracts in Sorrento and what investigators have described as the so-called "sistema Sorrento." In July 2025, the Court of Review confirmed the overall prosecution case brought by the Torre Annunziata prosecutor's office, while annulling some precautionary measures on procedural grounds.
The offences cited in the reporting include corruption, rigging of public tenders and embezzlement. The reports describe accusations that Coppola received bribes, a claim that remains to be tested at trial.
A first conviction and a civil claim by the town
A separate, verified development gives readers context on where the wider proceedings stand.
A first conviction has already been issued in the municipal contracts case: the court in Torre Annunziata sentenced Francesco Di Maio, a collaborator and staff member of the former mayor, to 4 years and 2 months for two counts of undue inducement. The case was heard under the abbreviated-trial procedure.
In October 2026, the Municipality of Sorrento joined the abbreviated-trial proceedings as a civil party, seeking 3 million euros for damage to its image. The defendants in that proceeding were reported to include Coppola, Raffaele Guida and Vincenzo Rescigno.
What remains unclear
The sources do not provide the complete calendar of upcoming hearings or the final outcome of the case against Coppola. They also do not allow independent verification of every sum and episode alleged beyond what has been reported by the press.
For Sorrento residents, the practical effect of the latest decision is limited but visible: after almost eighteen months away, the former mayor will now serve the same precautionary measure — house arrest — at his home in Sorrento while the judicial process continues.
