Sgarbi reaches Gemelli’s specialist lung ward as rehabilitation continues

Adnkronos reports that Professor Luca Richeldi will oversee his treatment. But the latest articles should not be mistaken for a newly dated clinical milestone: the move to pulmonology was already described in a RaiPlay programme listing dated November 2. Adnkronos’s November 12 reports do not say precisely when the transfer happened.⁠1⁠2⁠9

The distinction matters because two different transitions sit behind the update. Sgarbi had already left intensive care in late October after his breathing improved enough to begin respiratory rehabilitation. The subsequent move to pulmonology places that continuing treatment in a specialist respiratory department; it does not establish a fresh improvement of the same kind.⁠1⁠6

The one-day uncertainty concerns the earlier exit from intensive care. Il Messaggero’s October 27 account, citing information obtained by Adnkronos Salute, said the transfer had happened the previous day—October 26. Adnkronos’s later account, published November 12, gives October 27. Neither account resolves the difference, but both describe the same sequence: improved respiratory function, a move to sub-intensive care and the start of rehabilitation.⁠6⁠1

Pulmonology is the branch of medicine concerned with the lungs and breathing. Gemelli’s official department page says its unit diagnoses and treats respiratory diseases and provides respiratory and motor rehabilitation for critically ill respiratory patients. Those services explain the relevance of the destination to the treatment Sgarbi is reported to be receiving.⁠12

Richeldi directs Gemelli’s pulmonology unit and is a full professor at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, according to the hospital and university’s official listings. His involvement identifies the specialist responsible for Sgarbi’s ongoing care; it does not, by itself, supply a prognosis.⁠12⁠13

Nor should the department’s wider range of specialties be read as a list of Sgarbi’s conditions. A ward’s expertise describes what it can treat, not what every patient admitted there has. The available update establishes continuing respiratory care and rehabilitation, without providing a detailed new account of his diagnosis or treatment plan.⁠1⁠12

Fanpage’s November 12 report describes Sgarbi as conscious and breathing well, with respiratory rehabilitation continuing. That is encouraging language, but it comes from news reporting rather than a newly available Gemelli clinical bulletin. It does not include the measurements or detail needed to judge how much breathing support he requires or how far his recovery has progressed.⁠4

The tracheostomy documented in late October—a breathing opening through the neck—also belongs to that earlier phase. The available reports do not establish whether it has since been removed. Its presence then should not be carried forward as a confirmed description of his condition now; equally, the description of him as breathing well does not establish that he is breathing without assistance.⁠1⁠6⁠4

The November 2 RaiPlay description characterized his recovery as cautious, with demanding treatment still under way. It also said his daughter Evelina was following his condition closely and receiving updates directly from doctors. That account offers context for the continuing hospital stay, not a timetable for its end.⁠9

The next consequential news will be whether his respiratory recovery permits discharge and what care he will need afterward. No discharge date or schedule for completing rehabilitation is established in the available reports. For now, the clearest conclusion is limited but important: Sgarbi has progressed beyond intensive levels of care, while the work of recovery remains inside the hospital.⁠1⁠3⁠4