The high-profile trial of the ex-wife of the Italian fashion mogul, Maurizio Gucci, started yesterday but lawyers immediately launched a barrage of tactics to delay the long-awaited case.
After a false start last week when defence lawyers went on strike, the session opened with a call for the chief prosecutor to stand down, a wrangle over media access to the trial and a request for another adjournment.
Dozens of cameras and onlookers jostled for a first glimpse of the woman dubbed the "Black Widow", Ms Patrizia Reggiani, (51) who is accused of plotting the murder of her former husband in a gangland-style killing.
But they were once again disappointed as she exercised her right not to attend the trial, preferring to stay in her cell in Milan's San Vittore prison.
"Her morale and her health are very bad," said one of Ms Reggiani's lawyers, Mr Giovanni Maria Dedola. Ms Reggiani is taking strong epilepsy drugs after an operation to remove a brain tumour in the early 1990s, he noted.
Instead, her alleged co-plotter and one-time friend, Ms Pina Auri emma, turned up stoney-faced and dressed in a chunky-knit sweater and sunglasses in the heat of the crowded courtroom.
The man who allegedly pumped three bullets into Gucci on the steps of his Milan office in March 1995, and the alleged getaway driver sat chatting in a cage in the courtroom. The alleged go-between, a hotel porter, Mr Ivano Savioni, chose to stay away.
The presiding judge turned down a request to postpone yesterday's session due to the absence of one of Ms Reggiani's lawyers.
The trial is expected to last up to a year.
"This is going to be a difficult and long trial," said Mr Paolo Antimiani, one of the hotel porter's lawyers.