02 Oct defamation and right of criticism

On the subject of defamation, the exemption of the right to criticize postulates a correct expository form, strictly functional to the purpose of disapproval and which does not lead to the gratuitous and unjustified aggression of others' reputation, but it does not prohibit the use of terms that, although objectively offensive, they also have the meaning of a mere negative critical judgment which must be taken into account in the light of the overall context in which the term is used. It must not transcend, in other words, in personal attacks aimed at attacking the moral sphere of others, but criticism, all the more the one made in political contexts, it cannot be aseptic or strictly objective, a certain degree of partiality being inherent to it, deriving precisely from the difference of opinion regarding the solution of an administrative problem or the management of a matter of public interest (Cass. 30704/21).