Chico Forti's release from prison has been approved: he'll become a pizza chef and teach windsurfing.

Chico Forti – sentenced to life in prison for the 1999 murder of Dale Pike in the US and serving his sentence in Italy after his extradition in 2024 – has obtained permission from the Venice Surveillance Court to work outside the Verona prison , under Article 21 of the penitentiary system, to attend a professional training course for pizza makers, volunteer with the elderly, and teach windsurfing to the disabled.

The lawyers' request, Il Gazzettino reports today, was accepted after a previous request for conditional release was rejected in September. In June, Forti had already been granted permission to attend the prison study rooms, and since February, he has been able to obtain leave to visit his mother in Trento.

Three months ago, the Venice Surveillance Court rejected the first request because it believed there had been no "feelings of guilt or genuine sorrow for the victim's family or for their own family members," emphasizing the "failure to compensate for damages, even partial."

The request for work permits, submitted by the prison director, was granted.

(Unioneonline)