PESCARA. “Why am I running? I am a rebel, and for this very reason I am ready to represent the voice of my voters in Europe.” With these words the art critic and politician, Vittorio Sgarbi, announces his candidacy with Fratelli d’Italia in the 2024 European elections, and decides to do so not in just any place, but in the place that best represents the symbol of the Italian Risorgimento, the 19th century Museum. «I am here to testify and guarantee the credibility of a great party, the Brothers of Italy, and doing so in Pescara, in one of the most important museums of the unification of Italy together with the National Gallery of Rome, allows me to best remember the great Italian European civilization, the one formed by Gabriele D’Annunzio, Costantino Barbella, Michetti and Mancini. All great painters who are represented here, within these walls, where the art of a united Italy continues to live, an art which, however”, continues Sgarbi, “is not yet sufficiently known. Pescara has an important centrality that deserves to be recognized through this Museum, the fruit of a life of passion.” And culture has always been the means to improve and change Europe, and Sgarbi, who for years has made art his reason for living, knows this, and for this reason he is ready to take on «the task of bringing the principles of art, beauty and music in Europe, because bringing culture to Europe means bringing Italy to its centrality. Abruzzo is a wonderful, pastoral world with profound Christian laws and, together with the other regions of the southern constituency such as Molise, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata and, finally, Calabria, represents the profound substance of our cultural roots . The Christian world derives from the cohesion between the Greek and Roman worlds. If one looks at Raphael’s masterpiece, the School of Athens, he sees Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and therefore sees the continuity of the West, that West that was born in Magna Graecia. Therefore”, specifies Sgarbi, “we are the center of the world, far from the south. And anyone who does not claim these values is not a true Italian.” Voting will take place on 8 and 9 June and, according to projections, Fratelli d’Italia should obtain 27% of the votes but Sgarbi expects «to reach 30% since ours is the most significant party, capable of welcoming that center-right area which, in Italy, is valid. I therefore find it ridiculous that the left talks about a wide field when it is clear that no wide field exists, since the 5 Star Movement will never reach 15% after having obtained 7% in the regional elections in Sardinia, Basilicata and Abruzzo. It is therefore a non-existent field, a field that instead exists with Fratelli d’Italia and with Giorgia. Those who criticize your candidacy for the European elections have perhaps forgotten that you are already in Europe and represent Italy, our government and the voters. We have a prime minister who talks to the kids, a prime minister who has made the rise of a party that initially had only 4%, a prime minister who is running to send the message that she is there and is ready to represent us.” Also present was the deputy of Fratelli d’Italia, Guerino Testa: «I am honored to have Vittorio Sgarbi here in one of the symbolic places of Abruzzo culture. The presence of Sgarbi within the list of Brothers of Italy is an added value also because, it is true, Europe must change, but this can only happen through greater culture, and the culture of the Honorable Sgarbi has been before everyone’s eyes. When I have the opportunity to go around with Vittorio I see that he is loved by ordinary people and, above all, by kids. Vittorio isn’t just what the newspapers want you to believe and I find the public shaming to which he was subjected unacceptable. I hope that his candidacy can re-establish the situation.” Yet, Sgarbi’s candidacy for the European elections has done nothing but spark further controversy. Having resigned last February from the position of undersecretary of Culture after a series of accusations against him, including that of having provided consultancy worth 300 thousand euros (incompatible according to the Antitrust with his position as undersecretary), Sgarbi thus responds to who considers his candidacy for the European elections inappropriate: «To those who accuse me of being unethical I would like to remind you that the laws are very clear: I am innocent until finally convicted. And I have no definitive convictions. This is why I say that it is not clear what they are talking about, since the laws do not prevent those who have ongoing investigations from running for office. Investigations are not convictions, and trials are held precisely for this reason, otherwise anyone could say whatever they want and automatically be believed. If they are under investigation it is for defamatory journalistic statements and the candidacy serves precisely this, to test the voters in front of a person about whom they already know what he really did. In the end”, concludes Sgarbi, “the judgment of the people surpasses any court”.
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