Found: it's a sentence from 2020, and PG decided not to appeal (!?)
replyFull story (in Italian) at https://www.wired.it/internet/web/2020/06/30/progetto-gutenb...
Seems like a case for HTTP 451 (Unavailable for Legal Reasons) rather than 404.
replyIt looks like the issue was that, in Italy, copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author or the first translator of a work.
replyPG works based on US copyright law. And as I understand it that's also 70 years after author/translator death.
My gut feeling is that if anyone tried hard enough this ban could probably get lifted
replyI asked Claude to research the background story:
"In May 2020, the Court of Rome ordered Italian ISPs to seize/block a list of domains as part of a criminal case (the 52127/20 R.N.R. you're seeing) targeting sites and Telegram channels distributing pirated newspapers and magazines. 28 domains were on the list, and Project Gutenberg got thrown in alongside the actual pirate sites."
replyapparently this situation hasn't been resolved yet