Saviano was accused by the granddaughter of Benedetto Croce, Marta Herling, of having written a dishonest article about the Abruzzese philosopher. The writer affirmed that during the 1883 earthquake of Casamicciola, in which he lost his parents and sister, Croce allegedly followed his dying father's advice and offered 100,000 lire (a very large sum for the time), to whoever helped him out from under the rubble. The testimony taken up by Saviano during the show "Vieni via con me" ("Come away with me") in 2010, was denied by Herling in a letter published in the "Corriere del Mezzogiorno" and in two interviews given to TG1, during which she explicitly maintained that the writer invented the episode.