"Dear Marcello, Dear Fedele, it was a really beautiful morning in which some 'sprightly old men', like those of Cocoon, rediscovered the taste of dreams. And it was nice to dream of sending Silvio to the Quirinale, for the re-evaluation of the whole our history and it was even more beautiful to think of the countless suicides of the various Travaglio, Gruber, Zagrebelsky etc ... that would be caused by this event ".
Thus begins the confidential letter that Denis Verdini sent by email to Marcello Dell'Utri and Fedele Confalonieri, revealed by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and in which, however, in the event of the Cavaliere's failure, he is invited to give way to Matteo Salvini's line.
For the former Forza Italia parliamentarian, who has repeatedly been targeted by the judiciary , Berlusconi's ambition to be elected to the Quirinale "is legitimate" and "no one in the center-right can deny him this opportunity", but if it is true that yes he can demand loyalty from his allies it is equally true that he cannot take away "from anyone (and above all from Salvini) one's role in a decisive political phase for the fate of this and the next legislature".
A concept on which Verdini goes back even further: "what can not be expected from Salvini is that he renounce the attempt to play a kingmaker role: also because the center-right has never been so close, in terms of numbers, to being able to achieve a result that he has never obtained. Therefore loyalty can be asked of him, but not absolute fidelity ".
Berlusconi, the letter continues, "will not logically be able to do both, that is, the candidate and the kingmaker".
And therefore if Berlusconi does not have the numbers to be elected, it is necessary "to allow Salvini (the largest group of big voters in the center-right) to carry out the goal of electing a center-right president, providing him with all his support".
But Verdini does not fail to dispense some practical advice: "At the fourth call each political group of the center-right will be 'recognized' by signing the ballots. Brothers of Italy will be told to vote for Silvio Berlusconi, the Lega to vote for Silvio Berlusconi. and so on .. "and in the event" that the fourth vote does not reveal the additional votes in a sufficient number to get ours elected, the President must reassure the allies of his willingness to agree ONLY with the allies the next moves that must go in the direction of electing in any case a name indicated by the center-right ".
