«I fought over Putin but Berlusconi was spectacular»

«Remember him with respect, yes. Don't venerate him. Giorgio Napolitano was an intelligent protagonist but not without cunning. He was the first communist leader to speak good English and to convince American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger with his natural elegance and rationality that the Italian communists were not terrorist guerrillas but normal people. He honestly admitted his mistakes and this was his most valuable quality." It is the memory of Napolitano that the journalist Paolo Guzzanti delivers during his visit to the Sardinian Union, before participating in meetings in Cagliari with the Sardinian representatives of the Pli of which he is deputy secretary (the secretary is Roberto Sorcinelli from Cagliari) and presenting in the ex Blocchiera Falchi in Tortolì the book “Silvio. The real life of Berlusconi”.

You knew another president well, Cossiga.

«He was my phone friend. “Pa, did you see what Occhetto did? I'd like to say he's a zombie with a moustache." And I: "Francis, the President of the Republic cannot express such a judgment on a party secretary." I was working at La Stampa, the next day in the Messaggero I read the headline: “Occhetto, zombie with a moustache”. He was a proudly Sardinian man. Very sweet and very hard."

Why the book on the Knight?

«I wrote it many years ago, then I revised and integrated it when he died. I went to see him during his last hospitalization. We had argued over his pro-Putin positions, then we reconciled. Politics had died with Mani Pulite and he was a blaze of rebellion: he led Italy to dream. He was a spectacular character, he embodied the average Italian and the exceptional Italian."

He was very attached to Sardinia.

«I had just been elected senator, I was dealing with the Mitrokhin dossier and Russian spies and he asked me to lead the commission of inquiry into that delicate matter. He hosted me in his villa for three days: we sang and played French songs and he gave me a pair of trekking shoes for unforgettable walks in different parts of Sardinia. If I think of the island, Berlusconi comes to mind in those intense and frenetic days. Pleasant memories, even if chairing the Mitrokhin commission put me in a position I didn't expect. So much pain and unjustified attacks. I saw things I shouldn't have seen. Situations that have altered my existence, not for the better."

What could Sardinia be like?

«Few regions have such a clear, “valiente” identity, as the Spanish say. Cossiga also said it. Sardinia is the region where the distance between what is and what could be is widest. Let's get practical: it is a land with a small number of inhabitants and large portions of unused territory, there is no modern agricultural policy. I think of Israel, of the large non-traditional agricultural industry, which is based on technology. But I also think about the possibility of creating tourism in inland areas. There is gigantic potential that must be exploited."

The relationship with the new liberal party.

«The spark went off. Berlusconi's passing leaves free a field that is not occupied or cared for as it should be. I don't see why a renewed liberal party shouldn't be a resounding success."

He is involved in politics but still writes for Il Giornale and Il Riformista.

"I'm happy to be a journalist, even going back I would have preferred to be a psychiatrist."

Which vote for the government?

«I admire the prime minister for her tenacity and coherence, which however is not always a virtue. Greater flexibility would be necessary, I see it as too rigid in certain attitudes. It has a statist vocation, far from the liberal mentality that Italy greatly needs today. For now we leave the judgment on the government open."

The opposition?

"Silly. There is not. I come from the socialist party, there has always been war between reformists and maximalists. Elly Schlein has decided to interpret the radical area that alone is unable to form a government with the reformists. It's been like this for a century. Italians are tired of a left that still discusses its identity. We need a modern left which should also be liberal."

His phone call to “Quelli della notte” with the voice of Sandro Pertini is memorable.

«When I worked at Avanti he ran Il Lavoro di Genova and came to our editorial office to ask for free pieces for his newspaper. A respectful and playful relationship. Arbore knew about the joke. I said (it seems like I'm hearing Sandro Pertini, ed.): “Dear Arbore, I praise your humour, when I was in France, in fact, I bought Le Canard enchainé, a satirical weekly, and with its sheets I made a bricklayer's hat out of paper”. A light thing. Everyone believed it. A real coup."

Massimiliano Rais