Amanda Knox has been granted a full review of crucial DNA evidence used to convict her of Meredith Kercher's murder.
The appeal hopes of the American 23-year-old rest partly on having the evidence re-examined independently.
After a hearing lasting most of Saturday, the decision went in her favour, giving her family some hope that the guilty verdict may yet be overturned.
Found guilty in the Umbrian hilltop town last year of stabbing the 21-year-old British student to death after a sex game, Knox is hoping to have the verdict overturned.
Defence lawyers for Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, also jailed for the murder, argued for another look at the evidence, including disputed DNA traces found on a knife allegedly used as the weapon and on the clasp of Miss Kercher's bra.
They maintain that this evidence was inconclusive and have also argued it may have been contaminated when analysed.
