Alleged Stalker of Livia Firth Charged By Italian Prosecutor

Marco Brancaccia had affair with wife of film actor during period of separation

A man who allegedly send abusive messages to Livia Firth, the wife of Chiswick-based film actor Colin Firth, has been charged by an Italian prosecutor according to a report in the Times.

The newspaper says that due to a lawyers’ strike in Rome a pre-trial hearing on the case has been postponed until July. Under the Italian system a judge will make a decision as to whether the case will go to trial at that point.

Marco Brancaccia

Livia Firth made a complaint to Italian police this March that 55-year-old Marco Brancaccia, who she had known since childhood, had been ‘bombarding’ her with messages. Mr Brancaccia, who works as the bureau chief for the ANSA news agency in Brazil, denied this saying that he only ever sent two messages on WhatsApp. He told the Times that the accusations against him were being fabricated in an attempt to cover up an affair which lasted a year and that Ms Guiggioli had intended to leave her husband. Livia Firth had known Mr Brancaccia since childhood. It was subsequently confirmed by the couple that the affair did take place while they were separated between 2015 and 2016. The Firths have since reunited and she says that since that point Mr Brancaccia has threatened her with phone calls and texts.

A spokesman for the couple, who have been married for twenty years said when the allegation were first reported, ‘A few years ago Colin and Livia privately made the decision to separate. During that time Livia briefly became involved with former friend Mr Brancaccia. The Firths have since reunited.

‘Subsequently, Mr Brancaccia carried out a frightening campaign of harassment over several months, much of which is documented. For obvious reasons, the Firths have never had any desire to make this matter public.’

Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that Mr Brancaccia began stalking Ms Giuggioli in September 2016 after the affair ended. He is accused of threatening to write compromising articles about her and he emailed photographs to Mr Firth at which point he alerted the Italian authorities.

Mr Brancccia told the Times, ‘My “stalking” consisted of two messages via [the messaging service] WhatsApp after she ended our relationship in June 2016, and an email.

‘I wrote an email to Colin about my relationship with Livia, which I now regret sending, and she filed a complaint against me for stalking out of fear that I could go public with what she had revealed to me about her marriage and work.

‘In a year she sent me hundreds of messages of love, photos and videos, even a diary.’

If found guilty at trial Mr Brancaccia could face a jail sentence reportedly of up to five years.

May 4, 2018