The standing ovation from the FdI audience to Enrico Berlinguer and the public praise dedicated to him Ignazio La Russa — «We honor his figure, this applause is the coherent continuation of the homage that Almirante paid him on the day of his death», he says to daughter Bianca with him on stage — have, in fact, ancient roots.
Last March. Walter Veltroni talks about Enrico Berlinguer with Corrado Augias during an episode of The Tower of Babel on La7. The theme is the historical left-right relationship in the Italian Republic. Augias talks about Giorgia Meloni’s visit to the Roman exhibition dedicated to Enrico Berlinguer by the Palaexpo company at the Mattatoio and curated by the Enrico Berlinguer association, which closed in February. Veltroni returns to June 13, 1984at the burial chamber set up in Dark Shops for the funeral of Enrico Berlinguer. The news arrives that Giorgio Almirante is in line: in the middle of the crowd, of all people, dressed in his usual gray suit and without any escort, a choice that is simply unthinkable today. A moment of bewilderment, explains Veltroni: «It was Giancarlo Pajetta who decided, saying: “I’ll welcome him”. And he went towards the entrance.” A strong choice full of meaning: the PCI of the times still has his rituals and every gesture has a precise meaning.
Pajetta leaves the funeral home, arrives at the entrance, appears next to him Nilde Jotti: the highest level of representation of that communist world. Almirante enters, bows his head, we gather, we make the sign of the cross. Then he goes out and runs into the director Luigi Magni who is filming his part in the great collective documentary on funerals (with Bertolucci, Scola, Montaldo, Maselli and others): «I didn’t come to advertise myself, but to greet an extremely honest man». All around, the PCI people respect Almirante’s courage, former republican of Salò: to line up among those communists he has been fighting for his whole life. Only a few very isolated whistles, almost of circumstance. For this reason, on May 23, 1988, Nilde Jotti and Giancarlo Pajetta attended Almirante’s funeral.
The relationship between Almirante and Berlinguer it is now a piece of contemporary history. Time has shed hesitations, silences and bipartisan hypocrisies. But the two spoke to each other regularly, immediately after the death of Aldo Moro, at a time when the Republic and democracy itself were in full storm. It is difficult to reconstruct precise details. He admitted it Massimo MagliaroAlmirante’s historic right-hand man, to our Alessandro Trocino on 1 April 2021 on Corriere della Sera. Moro dies. Almirante and Berlinguer find a way to speak to each other confidentially, especially periodically in that crucial 1978: the death of Moro, the resignation of Giovanni Leone, the three Popes. These are not the times of cell phones: there are no photos or videos. Every Friday afternoon the two leaders of opposing sides since the beginning of the Italian Republic they sit on a sofa next to the Queen’s Hall of Montecitorio. Clandestine meetings: on Friday afternoons the Chamber is always empty. Comparisons in very low voices. Only Magliaro, Tonino Tatò, in turn Berlinguer’s right-hand man, and his wives Assunta Almirante and Letizia Berlinguer are aware of it.
Magliaro admits: «I never had the courage to ask what they said to each other. I regretted it as the worst of my sins.” Material that is found, along with much else, in the book The gesture of Almirante and Berlinguer written in 2019 by Antonio Padellaro (Paperfirst publisher) and dedicated precisely to relationship between those two enemies who decide to confront each other after the Moro tragedy. Presenting the book on the days of its release, Padellaro talks about a decision made by the two leaders «in the best interests compared to those of the two sides: that is, the national interest”.
Marcello Veneziani wrote in 2019 reflecting on Padellaro’s book: «Why did they meet? To stem red and black terrorism, they said, to exchange information on the matter, both being in the crosshairs. And perhaps to understand the role of the secret services in the red and black plots; to understand what game some characters, like Andreotti, were playing. The MSI had recently undergone a painful split which he believed was driven by the DC. And the PCI was on the gridiron between compromises and low blows.” So many questions, all unanswered. Veneziani then reports rumors of another meeting, still alone, but up a bench from Villa Borghese. Two men alone faced with history.
