When his image in chains before the Hungarian judges went around Europe, the chat of the parents of a third year class «Cardano» high school it literally exploded with messages. The first to realize that it was a familiar face was one of his children, a student: «But that’s the teacher who substituted for us last year!». She, Ilaria Salis, was the teacher who, according to her parents, managed to “make the kids passionate about books”. Two months replacing the professor of literature in the “Cardano” high school, Lampugnano district (Milan), between November and December 2022. Then, after the Christmas holidays, Salis, the anti-fascist militant in preventive prison in Budapest for 14 monthsnow a candidate for the European elections with the Greens and Left Alliance, has spent another month of substitute teacher at the «Gian Battista Vico» high school in Corsico.
These are the last two work experiences of the teacher who grew up in Monza and then moved to Milan before her arrest, which occurred in February 2023, and the subsequent judicial ordeal. Since she is locked up in prison, and on trial on charges (which she denied) of having attacked two neo-Nazis during a gathering of black extremists.
Thus the “prof” ended up at the center of a diplomatic affair between Rome and Budapest, which became very topical again with her registration in the Avs lists. «Regardless of the opinions one may have on the matter, seeing her in those conditions, with shackles on her hands and ankles, was shocking. Even before being a colleague of ours, she is a person: I think that at least this can make everyone agree”, comments Paola Molesini, principal of “Cardano”, an institute of 1,600 students under Monte Stella in San Siro. «Somehow, the situation must be resolved. This does not mean making judgments of innocence, but ask for humane treatment anyway. I don’t remember much about her, I didn’t have the opportunity to get to know her in depth.”
Ilaria Salis was one of the many substitute teachers who alternate during the school year. Teachers who stay in the school for a short time and then move elsewhere, based on the places available in the rankings. But among the kids who had her as a substitute, the anarchist militant seems to have left an excellent memory. One of the students’ fathers, a Milanese lawyer, confirms it: «she was a literature teacher for my son in second grade last year. Politically I have ideas that are far from yours, but in my role as a teacher I had only positive feedback. My son, thanks to her, opened books willingly. I came home in the evening and found him with his Betrothed open on the desk.” In that period, the lawyer also had the opportunity to get to know her: «she seemed to me to be a woman who loves culture all round. We could talk to her about anything, and she was very open to discussion.” A portrait far from the «barricadera» Salis as a social center: «We parents, like the kids in general, were enthusiastic about her presence. It was a disappointment to lose her as a teacher, but even more, obviously, it was a shock to see her in those conditions.”
