CREMONA – In your electoral campaign and in the list that refers to you, there is a lot of talk about community and a sense of belonging. What do you want to highlight?
«The challenges that concern the future of this city and this territory are so high that they will not only involve future local administrators, whoever they may be. They will affect the entire community. I am thinking, for example, of the demographic winter and the need to inject new lifeblood into the city, both economic and social. To do this, a collective effort is needed that involves institutions, businesses, associations and citizens. We must give life to a new community pact. Identify together the most effective priorities and strategies, taking into account our competitive elements, available resources as well as internal and external opportunities and constraints. Nobody can feel excluded, nobody can point fingers without getting directly involved.”
Why do you talk about internal and external constraints?
«Our future is not only in our hands. It would be at least naive to imagine that it is sufficient to bring the city together in an assembly and write a good plan for the future for this to then come true. Not everything depends on us, we must be aware of this. There are internal and external constraints to take into consideration to build concrete and not unrealistic actions. I think, for example, that the decision to Luciano Pizzetti to run for city council goes precisely in this direction. His government experience and his high-level relationships will be very useful for a Cremona that wants to connect with the major development guidelines.”
Do concrete and not unrealistic actions mean that we need to reduce expectations?
«No, it means that the real room for maneuver is measurable in degrees and depends on how good we are at networking with other territories with valuable projects. This is why I smile (bitterly) when I read the proclamations of the centre-right which, from the comfortable role of the opposition, tell the people of Cremona unrealizable fairy tales. They will not be believed because my fellow citizens have a trait that unites them all: a sense of reality, that is, feet firmly planted on the ground.”
Can you give an example of what you define as ‘value projects’?
“Yes of course. I’ll give two examples. The first concerns the imminent redevelopment of the former hospital as an integral part of the project called ‘Youth in the centre’, because it involves redesigning the entire area which includes the former church of San Francesco, the Citadel of personal services and the Park of the Vecchio Passeggio, but also the buildings that today house the San Francesco nursery, the Martini nursery school and the Campi secondary school, as well as Piazza Lodi and Piazza Giovanni XXIII, to regenerate spaces in the center to be dedicated to cultural and social activities involving in particular young people”.
And the second?
«The Monteverdi Festival has recently obtained recognition from Parliament as a national festival and important economic resources which will make the event even more unique and attractive. Here Cremona has been able to play its unique and distinctive value, the musical genius of the Cremonese Monteverdi, to appear on the national and international stage by offering a high-level event that speaks not only to the people of Cremona but to all those in Italy and around the world who recognize the monumentality of the ‘Divine Claudius’. Cremona can replicate this virtuous example with many other vocations and uniquenesses both from the past and the present. I am thinking, for example, of agri-food, but also of the great opportunity in the university sector made possible by the investments made by the Arvedi Buschini Foundation. This is a project that aims at an idea of quality development of the city that we must all be committed to enhancing. Maybe we need to believe in ourselves a little more.”
Returning to constraints. So is our future being decided elsewhere?
«We are always the ones who have to imagine and build our future but also taking into account everything that happens beyond our administrative borders. The dynamics of national and international development also act on our community as constraints or as opportunities. It is necessary to know these contexts, frequent them, cross-reference their projects to bring new resources to Cremona. I’ll give you an example: Milan is now a metropolis on a European scale and beyond. It is illusory to think that its enormous ability to polarize resources, talents and opportunities does not also positively or negatively influence our development trajectory.”
So is war being waged against the Duchy of Milan?
«I am against war. Having a European metropolis less than one hundred kilometers away is an opportunity. It would be even more so if we had faster connections with the Lombardy capital, the doubling of the railway line could provide this opportunity. However, it is a question of entering into dialogue with Milan and, at the same time, of building strong alliances in Lombardy with the cities that intend to continue to have an attractive role and not become the outskirts of something, even if large. I am thinking of Brescia and Bergamo, as well as Mantua. We have many issues in common that we can address together. A table must also be opened with the Region to evaluate the need not to polarize all the opportunities on the Lombard capital or even not to read the needs with a Milan-centric lens which differs from the needs of southern Lombardy. It would be an unforgivable mistake.”
There are those who see you as the continuation of the Galimberti experience, is that right?
«I must say that this story of continuity and discontinuity is just a polemical weapon waved by the centre-right. To advance and progress, cities need both tradition and innovation. It is essential to change to adapt to the future that comes our way, just as it is precious to maintain what good has been done. Gianluca Galimberti on some things he went in continuity with Oreste Perri and on many others it gave discontinuities. I find all this wise and respectful of the good of a community. This will naturally also apply to me if the Cremonese people trust me. I’ll give you an example: in recent decades all the centre-left or centre-right municipal councils, as well as all the mayors who have succeeded one another, have confirmed the value of some strategic choices, I’m thinking of district heating, the fiber cabling of the city or the Technological Pole started by one administration and concluded by another. Whoever administers must look to the common good, not to anything else.”
So there will be a Virgilio 1 and not a Galimberti 3?
«It is clear that I want to open a new political season, my centre-left coalition is a combination of experience and innovation, we want to go beyond the perimeters and open a dialogue with the entire city. I believe I have faithfully carried out the task entrusted to me in recent years. I am deeply grateful to these years, to the colleagues who have worked with me, now I think I have the experience and knowledge to manage a complex and articulated administration like the municipality of Cremona. If I am a candidate it is because I believe I am the bearer of new priorities, also thanks to the objectives achieved, but also of new ideas for the future of Cremona. Each mayor brings himself to the role he plays, he brings his character, his experiences, his personality and his enthusiasm.”
If we’re talking about a Virgil 1 then tell me what will change?
«I will favor the change of everything that I think should change for the good of the people of Cremona and I will not be afraid to do so. Saying you want to change everything like the center-right does is the best way to change nothing. The experience of these years has allowed me to appreciate the successes of administrative action as well as to understand the inevitable limits. I want to start from here. From the awareness that for a city to live and prosper it must be able to keep two aspects together: the high and strategic vision, that is, the large projects of development and social and economic growth, with the more daily vision of the legitimate expectations of individual citizens in terms of decorum urban, of perceived insecurity, of solidarity, of greater attention to detail. I want an administration that is closer to the demands of everyday life, I want a political level capable of keeping together the relationship with the individual citizen and that with the broader ruling class of this city. We must foster a more constructive relationship with some worlds, I am thinking of the third sector, of the need to establish a collaboration in which many private entities can be not only actors but the true protagonists of co-planning paths. I am thinking – concludes Virgilio – of trade and the opportunity to create an urban district capable of putting the public body and the economic categories on an equal footing. Finally, I believe in the role of public institutions within a management function and not as a centralizing entity of initiatives and projects”.
