The article was published by La Verità, under the pseudonym Ignazio Mangrano. But the exact same text arrived at lunchtime on Sunday at at least three center-right editorial offices, including Il Giornale, from the email address stefanomarini@usa.com, signed Mario Rossi.

The institutional political conflict sparked by the Francesco Saverio Garofani affair, the councilor at the Quirinal Palace who allegedly called for "a providential jolt" to unseat Giorgia Meloni, is tinged with mystery. For example, the circumstances surrounding the leaked remarks that sparked the storm are unclear: some say he spoke at a Roman sports club a month ago, while others maintain without question that he was at a club in Piazza Navona a week ago.

Until the online newspapers Repubblica and Stampa revealed the background story a few hours after the meeting between Sergio Mattarella and Meloni at the Quirinale, also publishing a photo of the email. Certainly no one reported that article on Monday, the day of the Supreme Defense Council, with Mattarella, Meloni, and half the government meeting at the Quirinale.

Among the opposition, there are rumors of a media campaign to cast a shadow over the impartiality of the Quirinale Palace , where in less than four years the center-right could have the chance to elect a president from its own party for the first time: according to Matteo Renzi, it is "the palace" the prime minister is aiming for. There is also debate over the timing of the "scoop" in La Verità, published the day after the Supreme Defense Council. Reliable sources rule out any connection.

Meanwhile, yesterday's edition of Il Giornale (owned by Lega MP Antonio Angelucci and previously by the Berlusconi family), in its piece on the "tensions" between the Brothers of Italy and the Prime Minister, reported receiving that email. "I fear there's a bit of envy in that piece of Il Giornale," commented Massimo De Manzoni, co-editor of La Verità, a guest on Radio 1's "Un giorno da pecora." " Do you think we would have done all this based on an anonymous letter? And if it were true, why didn't Il Giornale follow up? " "Absolutely," De Manzoni assured, "they know the source, "it's not a Mario Rossi ." It's "a more than authoritative source," editor Maurizio Belpietro had written in his editorial on "the Quirinale's plan to stop Meloni." Now questions are being raised about the existence of an audio recording of the conversation involving Garofani. "It's possible" it exists, De Manzoni confirmed, without ruling out the possibility that the newspaper has withheld additional material for new installments in the coming days: "Top secret. We've already caused a bit of a stir, in the meantime we're capitalizing on the reactions."

The Meloni-Mattarella meeting

Meanwhile, yesterday's twenty-minute meeting wasn't enough to secure peace, but it did trigger a truce between the Quirinale and Palazzo Chigi. Meloni called Mattarella and then went to the Quirinale for a meeting that official sources described as cordial and productive. Yet when the prime minister emerged from the halls of the palace that once belonged to the popes, sources at Chigi Palace quickly put a damper on the expectations of those who weren't there: "Prime Minister Meloni expressed her regret to President Mattarella for the institutionally and politically inappropriate words uttered in a public context by advisor Francesco Saverio Garofani."

Tensions immediately escalated, with journalists besieging the Prime Minister's office and the Quirinale Palace, demanding to know what had happened during those 20-minute conversations. Sources remained silent. Only later that evening, perhaps after the timely intervention of the Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI), did a statement from the Brothers of Italy finally emerge. This time, it wasn't just Galeazzo Bignami who lit the fire by attacking Garofani and, through him, the Quirinale Palace. Senate group leader Lucio Malan also signed the few lines, almost as if to raise the official status of the statement. " After today's meeting between President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who had the opportunity to discuss the press reports regarding Councilor Garofani's statements, Brothers of Italy—they emphasized—considers the matter closed and has no further intention of adding. We reiterate our esteem for President Mattarella and our appreciation for the institutional harmony between the Quirinale Palace and Palazzo Chigi."

Case closed, then? The Quirinale was expecting precisely these words, and in the evening confirmed: "Case closed." But on the right, the question of Garofani's resignation remains open. Institutional esteem and respect for the President of the Republic are "undiminished," but if an advisor "allows himself to make such statements in public, he cannot hold that position: it was inappropriate." According to various accounts, this was, in essence, the crucial point of Giorgia Meloni's speech in her meeting with Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale. Garofani's role, however, was never up for discussion at the Quirinale.

For the Democratic Party, according to Elly Schlein's party, it's "surprising" how a government that bases its narrative on stability tends to "create very strong institutional fibrillation, between attacks on the President of the Republic, the judiciary, the Court of Auditors, RAI..." It's no coincidence that in recent hours, the words of Cardinal President of the CEI, Matteo Zuppi, have been repeatedly cited in those quarters, regarding the need for "something more than institutional fair play."

Who is Francesco Saverio Garofani?

Francesco Saverio Garofani, born in 1962, has always been one of the men closest to Sergio Mattarella, advisor to the Head of State for the Affairs of the Supreme Defense Council.

According to La Verità and its director Maurizio Belpietro, he is among those at the Quirinale who are "getting agitated in the hope of tripping up the Prime Minister."

"Apparently," writes the newspaper's editor, " there's talk of a 'large national civic list,' a re-edition of the Olive Tree. But this might not be enough, and so Mattarella's advisor, Francesco Saverio Garofani, invokes providence: 'A year and a half isn't enough to find someone to beat the center-right; we need a providential shakeup.'" But that's not all; on the same page, there's a second piece detailing the "informal meeting" in which Garofani is said to have explained the details of the operation to his interlocutors.

Romano, active in the youth groups of the Christian Democrats and with a degree in Literature and Philosophy, is a professional journalist and has walked alongside Mattarella in journalistic and political experiences, from the DC (always on the left wing of the party) to the PPI to the Margherita and finally the PD.

For two years, from 1990 to 1992, he was editor-in-chief of La Discussione; from 1995 to 2003, he was editor of the daily Il Popolo; and in 2003, he was among the founders of Europa, becoming its deputy editor. He was always close to Mattarella, carrying on the political tradition of democratic Catholicism in newspapers, first of the Christian Democrats and then of the centrists. From the PPI, he moved to the Margherita party and was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 2006 with the Ulivo party, before being re-elected to Montecitorio for the following two terms. From 2015 to 2018, he was chairman of the Chamber of Deputies' Defense Committee. He was a member of the Democratic Party's National Executive.
He has written two books on Aldo Moro and has been Mattarella's advisor at the Quirinale since 2018 for institutional issues.

After his latest appointment, in 2022, as advisor for affairs of the Supreme Defense Council, FdI expressed its "surprise at the decision to appoint such a politicized and partisan figure as a former Democratic Party parliamentarian to a role that, for the first time, has not been entrusted to a military member."

(Unioneonline/D)

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