Nineties: Bossi's undershirt in Porto Cervo

On the one hand, Silvio Berlusconi in his villa Certosa, in Porto Rotondo, which a few years later, at the height of Berlusconi's power, would become the Sardinian Camp David. On the other, Umberto Bossi, a guest in a Vito Gnutti house in Pevero, on the Costa Smeralda. Around a galaxy of ministers, deputy ministers, party leaders who in 1994 stole the show from stars and starlets by transferring the events of the two Gallura tourist villages from the pages of summer gossip to that of political news. Until then the political power had frequented Porto Cervo (and Porto Rotondo) as a place of vacation and relaxation, far from the Roman palaces and its dynamics but above all from photographers. As well as the Italian economic power: in the Costa Smeralda were Gianni Agnelli, Carlo De Benedetti (who sold his splendid villa on the sea of Romazzino in 2012), the Barilla family (portorotondini doc), Silvio Berlusconi, Raul Gardini, in front row in the Maxi Yacht regattas, the Merloni. All to take holidays away from the limelight. Cavaliere understood that in Gallura he was already at home with several family villas, in the two Gallura capitals of VIP tourism.

But it is in August 1994 that the political spotlight turns on Porto Rotondo and Porto Cervo and the holidays of politicians become a matter of news (as well as custom). Also because in Gallura the fate of the country is discussed. Or at least those of the first Berlusconi government. The high concentration of ministers, completely unheard of in the First Republic, is linked to the presence of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at the Certosa, the large villa in Porto Rotondo which in the 2000s will also host Putin and Toni Blair. The meetings (Ministers Previti, Biondi and Maroni and Undersecretary Gianni Letta arrive in Olbia, in those days at the end of August) are held in Porto Rotondo but a small Northern League enclave gravitates around the house (in a condominium) on the Costa Smeralda, of the Minister of Industry Vito Gnutti and a residence in Pevero.

WE ARE PEOPLE OF THE PEOPLE

A difference that the Senatur will mark when speaking to journalists as soon as they get off the plane: «We will not go as guests to Berlusconi, we are people of the people. If you want, you know where to find us ». He will go to Berlusconi's villa for a dinner but it is on the beach that Bossi conquers his space in the news of the summer with his uniform and sunburnt skin, the attacks on Buttiglione and large families, the dialogues with dozens of swimmers (many from Lombardy) who besiege it, dives and raft rides with their children.

But at the center of attention is also the particular look of that summer: the white tank top that Bossi shows off with absolute nonchalance, together with a Bermuda shorts, among the refined bathing outfits of the people of the Costa Smeralda, emblem of the anti-system philosophy (even inside the Government) of the Northern League of those years. A book was also dedicated to the look of the Senatur and its symbology, "La canottiera di Bossi" by Marco Belpoliti who, analyzing the contrast with Berlusconi, writes "the image of the Northern League leader in the vest is broadcast on the news with the full consent of Bossi: the political message that the gesture communicates is explicit: I am part of the people and the Lega is a popular movement. Sitting on the beach of Porto Cervo, a place frequented by VIPs, the senatùr about to break the alliance with the billionaire Silvio Berlusconi, shows himself like this. A true everyman ".

After that troubled summer, the first Berlusconi government went on for another autumn to fall a few days after Christmas 1994.