the session until May 19 after lawyers said they were joining a strike by Italy's legal profession. The delay was just the latest in a string to hit the trial which has taken three years to reach the courts. Gucci's ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani, dubbed the "Black Widow", and four alleged accomplices face life behind bars if found guilty of the gangland-style killing of the last grandson of Guccio Gucci, the founder of the world famous fashion empire. A gunman pumped three bullets into Gucci on the steps of his Milan office in March 1995, finishing him off with a shot to the head as he lay in a pool of blood. Reggiani was arrested at her luxury flat in Milan last year along with her clairvoyant friend Pina Auriemma, a hotel porter and two alleged hit-men. Cameras and onlookers were disappointed, as Gucci's ex-wife stayed away from the first day of the trial for "health reasons", remaining in her cell. But present in the court were a glum-looking Auriemmaf, Ivano Savioni and one of the alleged contract killers, Benedetto Ceraulo. The prosecution says that Reggiani, obsessed with revenge following the acrimonious break-up of her marriage, plotted the murder with Auriemma who found a go-between:Savioni. Reggiani denies the charges, but admits she said she wanted her husband dead after their 12-year marriage collapsed at the beginning of the 1980s. But her lawyers say this was used against her. Reggiani says the four took it upon themselves to translate her desire into reality without consulting her. But from behind bars, Auriemma signed a confession in which she admitted that on Reggiani's orders she arranged the killing through Savioni. Savioni's lawyers said the porter had and would testify in court that he was the liaison with the hit-men. One of the prosecution's key pieces of evidence against Reggiani is an entry in her diary noting an appointment with Savioni shortly before the killing. Another key piece of evidence will be the testimony from the porter of the building where the shooting took place. He was shot twice after attacking the hit-man with a broom and says he can identify the killer.