Dawn and night, all in one day. The summer light that filters from the curtain onto the Montecitorio hall is suffused. It is late in the afternoon when Umberto Elia Terracini, partisan of the first hour, President of the Constituent Assembly, opens the work of the session of 21 July 1947. On the agenda of the meeting called to write the foundations of the Republic there is a motion . The first signature is by Emilio Lussu, the captain of the Sassari Brigade. They are all there, in that hall as solemn as it is austere. The faces of the history of Italy, and in many ways those of the troubled autonomy of the island of Sardinia. They are all there, as if time had nailed them to their responsibilities.

Andreotti & De Gasperi

There are Andreotti and Togliatti, La Malfa, De Gasperi, Scelba, Fanfani. And then there's Emilio Lussu, the most shrewd and respected. Sharp and irreverent, subtle and witty. When it comes to defending the Sardinian cause, he unleashes the foil, ignoring the bayonet for a moment. He is not alone, the Knight of the Rossomori. His motion collects important signatures, as if to mark the cultural, legal and political transversal nature of his proposal. Riccardo Lombardi, leader of the socialist left, Piero Calamandrei, ideologue and founder of the Action party, Ferruccio Parri, but also the Sardinians Velio Spano and Renzo Laconi, communists, Gesumino Mastino, Christian Democrat from Silanus sign it with him , the Castelsardo socialist Michele Giua. The motion is the synthesis of the Armungia leader's pragmatism and foresight. With a single blow, the Captain tries to overturn the atavistic delays of the Sardinian political class, to prevent the winter that is about to fall on the Special Statute Regions and, above all, to align the Sardinian Constitutional Charter with that of the very powerful Sicily. The text of the parliamentary act proposed by Lussu is a legislative and constitutional marvel, capable of reversing the path of the abyss in which the Sardinian Autonomy is wedging itself, even before it was born.

The Sicilian way

However, the attempt to adopt the Sicilian way to the Specialty is marked by a minefield, political on one side and "centralist" on the other. Lussu knows it very well: the "republican" state, even before its birth, felt the effects of Rome's centralizing craving. If Sardinia fails to join the Sicilian Statute, it will be forced to suffer not only the delays of the Sardinian Consulta, but above all the regurgitation of a voracious and selfish state. The motion is the last attempt not to lose the momentum of credibility and gratitude that Lussu and the Sassari Brigade had won to the sound of war and blood. The parliamentary act is as meager as it is significant. The first assumption of the request is binding: "The institution of the High Commissioners and of the regional Consultes placed Sicily and Sardinia, due to the particular conditions of the two large islands, in an identical political situation". To this was added: «Article 108 of the Constitution in question attributes particular forms and conditions of autonomy to Sicily and Sardinia». The background referred to in the motion is an appeal to conscience and gratitude: «The National Consulta and the Government of the National Liberation Committees had, already in 1946, resolved to temporarily extend the Autonomous Statute of Sicily to Sardinia, a provision of which the Sardinian Regional Council did not deem it appropriate to make use of it, preferring to elaborate its particular draft of the Statute with an in-depth examination". However, the delays that were accumulating with respect to Sicily were such that there was the risk of losing forever the "autonomist" momentum of recent history. The motion of Deputies fixes the process still to be completed: «The Statute for Sardinia, approved in the sessions of 15-29 April 1947, after six months of uninterrupted work, was presented to the Government by the Sardinian Regional Council». Lussu writes: «If the regular progress of the discussion on the Constitution continued, the Constituent Assembly would not be able to examine the Sardinian Statute even in September, so the regional elections in Sardinia could not take place within the year, thus putting the Island in an unjust state of disparity with respect to Sicily». Therefore, not only was the connection to the "train" of the statutory powers sanctioned, albeit provisionally, for Sicily lost, but there was also the risk of making the election of the first Sardinian parliament fail. The deliberative device being examined by Montecitorio is a pragmatic proposal, to save what can be saved. The Constituent Assembly - it is written - deliberates: «for the Sardinian Statute the same procedure used for the Sicilian Statute is to be adopted; and therefore the Constituent Assembly authorizes the Government to immediately approve the Statute presented by the Sardinian Consulta, so as to make it possible in Sardinia to convene electoral rallies within the year, reserving the right, as for the Sicilian Statute, for the end of the works of the 'Constituent Assembly, the right to a greater examination to coordinate the Statute with the new Constitution of the Republic". When Lussu takes the floor to illustrate the motion in Montecitorio, only Alcide De Gasperi, the Prime Minister, is missing. For the rest, everyone is there, from Togliatti to Pella, the powerful finance minister of that first republican government. Attorney Lussu's speech is brilliant, persuasive, alluring and even ironic.

Sicily & Sardinia

The debut is all for colleagues from the sister island. Lussu says: «I would immediately like to reassure my Sicilian colleagues. They do not believe that we Sardinians presume to compete with the big sister island that we recognize as greater in terms of richness of life, for a larger population and above all for more industries, and for perennial traditions of civilization. Among us, in the past, not famous kings or barons, but only venal or incapable proconsuls. In our poor history of the island, we have only one illustrious woman, who was not even a king but a judge, like the kings of the people of Israel, against whom, as happens to all women, even the best, in this moment critical murmurs begin to be pinned down. And we have the millennial suffering of our little people which is not yet civilly united, but which, due to the intensity of its sufferings, we see capable of expressing modern aspirations of human justice".

Gone are the brigands

Of course, Lussu identifies some differences, even substantial ones, but he does so with his own irony even when the subject is delicate: «I recognize that we lack many of the elements that make life so adventurous and dramatic Sicily. We lack large estates, feudal lords, barons, tax collectors and the mafia. We no longer even have brigands. It's painful but that's how it is! Our island has lost its primacy, which went unchallenged to Sicily, the bandit Giuliano keeps the yellow jersey high». In the courtroom we laugh, write the stenographers. With a technical-legal takeover, the captain aims to dampen the object of the dispute, to divert the attention of the silent and obvious "enemies" of the Sardinian Autonomy. Knowing full well that this was not the case, Lussu affirms: «The problem is technical, because, in essence, it is a matter of nothing else than finding a way to extend to Sardinia the possibilities of making its autonomous statute viable and efficient as it is occurred in Sicily. Sicily had the statute; it has had the elections, its Parliament, its regional government. Why doesn't Sardinia have it? How can Sardinia have it? That's the problem." Emilio Lussu is witty like few others. He uses the side with the skill of a skilled billiard player, even using that of his most atavistic opponent, Francesco Saverio Vincenzo de Paola Nitti, the first Prime Minister of the post-unification of Italy. It is to him that he turns to try to weaken, at least in words, the scope of his proposal: «When a politician of the authority of the honorable Nitti, whose sympathies or antipathies for the Region are well known, examining this motion, the 'considered fair and reasonable, I believe that a serene and hospitable port is being prepared for this autonomous Sardinian statute which arrives on a late ship but without instruments of war on the bow or stern or hidden in the hold.'

The Cavaliere dei Rossomori uses strong arguments: «Let it be very clear that we do not intend in any form to present ourselves as antagonists or competitors of Sicily. But the fact is this: that in 1943, as soon as the first parts of our national territory were freed, the institute of the High Commissioner was created in Sicily and Sardinia, and immediately after that the institute of the regional Consulta. These two institutes were set up for the two islands, because they are islands». Here, the key that for Lussu made the bond of the "specialty" for the two islands indissoluble: "why Islands".

Sardinia late

The peroration becomes stringent: «At this point it is only right that I recognize that on the road to autonomy times have been accelerated in Sicily and delayed in Sardinia. The Sicilian Regional Consulta, under the pressure of the events, accelerated its work of drafting the autonomous statute. In 15 days of continuous sessions, he prepared his statute which ended up being approved on 23 December 1945 and presented to the Government immediately afterwards». It is here that Lussu presses and recalls the first attempt not to divide the autonomistic destiny of the two Islands: «It was at this moment that the Sardinian representatives intervened at the Giunta and the Government in the National Consulta to obtain, given that the works in Sardinia proceeded with a certain slowdown, which could have been foreseen would continue for a long time, as provisionally the autonomous statute for Sicily was also passed to Sardinia while waiting for the regional council to elaborate its statute in complete tranquillity». The transition is crucial. Lussu's proposal to link the fate of autonomists wins the favor of the constituent works of the Sicilian Statute: «The junta of the three Commissions, meeting at the National Consulta, adhered to our request, as shown by the May 1946 bulletin of the Ministry of the Constituent Assembly, and contributed an addition to Article 12". And, in fact, the minutes of the time are the horizon of a milestone that was about to be carved: «The following article 42-bis has been added: The provisions of article 1 and of Titles 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6 are extended to Sardinia». It is the turning point, or rather, it would have been the turning point.

De Gasperi's yes

The Prime Minister at the time, Alcide De Gasperi, genetically and by birth Christian Democrat, seized by a remnant of gratitude towards Sardinia agreed to the request: «I undertake to temporarily pass the Sicilian statute to Sardinia while waiting for the Sardinian Regional Council to elaborate its own statute. Of course, reserving its coordination to the future Constituent Assembly». Lussu recalls, in the silence of a deputies hall that listens to him with proverbial respect, the "misdeed" that blew up his "hookup" plan to Isola Maggiore: «Except that an unforeseen event occurred: the Sardinian Regional Council he decided not to accept this offer. Partly out of a certain romantic spirit against autonomy by royal decree, partly out of esprit de corps, so to speak, for which he intended to elaborate his statute himself and not have it, even if provisionally, from Sicily, and then , above all, to have the time to calmly elaborate its particular statute. That's why Sicily has had the statute and Sardinia hasn't had it yet». The Sardinian leader's question becomes rhetorical and pungent: "Did the Sardinian regional council act well or act badly?" Lussu wonders. The answer is always his: «Both together, I believe. Of course, if the Sardinian regional consultants had belonged to the high school of politics that inspired the action of the honorable De Gasperi, they would have accepted. The honorable De Gasperi, even so young, is still the leader of everyone and taught how to take every opportunity and take advantage of every opportunity by renouncing any form of romanticism. Politics now seems to be the art of taking everything that is possible to take and that it is possible to have».

The ice Age

In Sardinia they paid no heed to Lussu, much less to De Gasperi's lesson. The Sardinian regional council rejected the offer. The story from that moment, however, was quite another. In extremis Lussu tried to convince the Constituent Assembly to authorize the De Gasperi government, which was also in favour, to adopt the Sardinian Statute without further wasting time. The "cold" state, as Lussu defines it, however, was about to turn into an ice age. The text approved by the Sardinian Consulta, the government holds tight to it. Not only does he not send it to the Constituent Assembly, but the Sardinian Statute "lies to the Interior Ministry like a dead body". Lussu urged the courtroom: «The purpose of this motion is, with your collaboration, ladies and gentlemen, and with the collaboration of the Government, to restore warmth and life to this cold Sardinian statute, according to justice». The procedure outlined by the motion is exemplary: "The Constituent Assembly authorizes the Government to immediately approve the Sardinian statute with a presidential decree-law".

The point of no return

Lussu understands that a point of no return has been reached. Either his motion passes or more and more doors will close for Sardinia and more and more obstacles will arise. The final card of that heartfelt appeal to the Constituent Assembly is both memory and conscience, a call to respect for those many Sardinians who gave their lives in those war trenches far from the island. His words, in that classroom that had become gloomy and dark, echoed like a moral reminder: «I remember, and I feel a certain reluctance to say it publicly here, that, when the State was in decay and many citizens, as a matter of course, after all , in the raging waves, they looked for a life raft on their own, and when the Minister of War made unheard-of efforts to try to reorganize an army or a semblance of an army, I remember that in the general stampede we, conscious representatives of the Sardinian people, in Sardinia we presented ourselves to them and said: Courage! Just a little more effort, in the general interest, and we certainly have autonomy! The Sardinians, peasants, shepherds, workers, all flocked to the districts to try, once again, to participate in the reconstruction of the state in decay and in rebirth". The commitment of the State resurfaces in Lussu's memory: "I remember that the honorable Bonomi - Prime Minister - at that moment struck by this show of national solidarity, told me several times: autonomy certainly must be granted as soon as possible" .

Give us back our life

The final appeal is full of expectations, projected towards the future: «Give us the opportunity to get back in touch with our own lives. We feel that we must restart our lives and have faith in ourselves: work more - I recognize it, all of us representatives of the Island recognize it - study more, and learn about our problems and those of others; study more in everything; sacrifice more of the individual to the collective, and experience more; enter more deeply into this life of modern civilization in Italy, Europe and the world; break this dark spell of isolation, which has become psychological after having been natural before and we must universalize ourselves». Lussu finishes speaking to the applause of the Constituent Assembly. They applaud the man, wit, irony and foresight. Behind the scenes, however, the most lethal weapon is being built: sloth, not deciding, the perennial postponement. Few want elections in Sardinia, Sardinian Christian Democrats don't want them first of all. The most illustrious of the Christian Democrats of the island is Salvatore Mannironi, from Nuoro. It is he who argues: "I said that I vote against the Lussu motion because it leads to a provisional solution".

Togliatti breaks in

The opposing artillery is ready to strike. However, Palmiro Togliatti, the head of the communists, bursts into the debate. Silence again in the Montecitorio hall: «We have two large regions in Italy - I leave aside the small mixed-language border areas - to which we have all agreed to guarantee a particular autonomous statute: Sicily and Sardinia. All this has been given to Sicily; not to Sardinia. Mistake? Forgetfulness? Need to postpone in the face of other more pressing problems? I do not argue, and I do not make any accusations; however I note that this difference in treatment between Sicily and Sardinia must now be eliminated; and must be done away with soon." Togliatti's observation becomes political: «The fact remains that the Sardinian people must be given all the political advantages, and promptly, that have been given to the Sicilian people. The Sardinian people are just as mature as the Sicilian people to quickly, democratically and freely elect their regional Parliament and thus create their own regional government after free democratic consultation. If this is not done, it means that there are other reasons that prevent you from doing it». No way. Quicksand is bound to prevail. Costantino Mortati, an early Christian Democrat, at the end of the debate, takes charge of the party order: transforming Lussu's peremptory and ordering device into a modest and useless «invitation to the competent Commission to examine the outline of the Statute as soon as possible presented by the High Commissioner and the Sardinian Regional Council». It is late at night in the Parliament building. The stenographers of the Constituent Assembly note: the invitation to postpone «after proof and counter-proof is approved». The Sardinian Statute will be launched seven months later, in the middle of the «ice age», when the State and its apparatuses had already decided to mortify the new special regions. Lussu is caustic: "These autonomies of ours can be part of the great family of federalism, just as the cat is part of the same family as the lion". The ordeal of the Sardinian Autonomy, however, is not over.

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