They leave him in Piazza Pontidabreak in a bar then it’s all over Via Venti handing out flyers to passers-by, who take the opportunity to take selfies. Matteo Salvini comes from Pavia and leaves for Milan, and in between goes down to the Balzer Globeofficially to present his book «Upwind» which returns en masse to the boxes, in reality for the last push of the electoral campaign. And he arrives chased by the calls for his resignation after calling French President Macron “criminal and unstable”..
While flyer on the Sentierone, Salvini insists, calling him a “bomber”. Because “whoever jokes about war and says that Russia must be bombed is a dangerous person and must be stopped in all possible ways, that is, with a vote.” While waiting for Salvini, the Minister of Autonomy Roberto Calderoli attempts a prediction on the elections in Bergamo: «The center-right wins in the first round, it’s a question of zero point. While if there is a run-off it will be more complicated, people go to the beach. We will strike between Dalmine, Seriate and Albino». Calderoli will immediately afterwards go to Pontida, where the former Northern League minister Castelli has sided against the League: «He has made a list of disturbances with only people from outside, I don’t understand it». We try to debate the candidacy Vannacci but there are no doubts: «The League must recover consensus after the Draghi government, I will take everything that comes. Are the militants grumbling? The militant voter must vote for the militant candidate.” «Vannacci will have among the best results in Italy», Salvini will then assure.
Anti-EU posters are posted in the Globe with classic themes such as «stop chemical meat and insects» or the «green euro follies». Eurocandidates Silvia Sardone and Giovanni Malanchini speak (“I thought about it three times before running as a candidate, but I want to bring this territory to Europe, and with emotion I say that I campaigned as a true militant”), while MP Rebecca Frassini recalls the funding obtained for the nearby Donizetti theatre, «dispelling the myth that culture is only left-wing». Matteo Salvini starts from the elections in Bergamo, where «for the first time in many years there is a concrete possibility of winning» thanks to a candidate who is “competent, valid, with clear ideas and from Bergamo, not parachuted in from who knows where”, and it is not clear who he is angry with. «You have sown well – he continues -. The League is the party that is growing the most, with a change for something and not against someone.” He too starts from the main topic of the deployment, the safety: «You can make all the little gardens and Capitals of Culture you want, but it’s useless if in some areas of the city your children aren’t comfortable leaving the house in the evening». The promise for the count is that “the League will return to being the leading party in the province”. Of course, “it depends on how many people we manage to convince.”
Don’t forget another mandatory topic during this period: «We will do the double, Atalanta champion and Pezzotta mayor». But you can see that the eye is on the threshold to be maintained at the European Championships, where the result of five years ago is a distant mirage. Salvini returns to where he began on the Sentierone, the fear of war: «There are things in front of which the autonomy that we are about to obtain after thirty years or the mayor of Bergamo take second place. If things go badly with the Municipality, the next day you go to the office and complain. But something much bigger is at stake with Europe. Because it was right from day one to help Ukraine defend itself, but it cannot be said that we must attack Russia with Italian weapons. With nuclear power it only takes a minute. When France and Germany talk about war it doesn’t end well.” The tones are dramatic: «The League’s choice is a choice of peace, I leave you the future of your children.” The centre-right candidate Andrea Pezzotta starts from a Dante quote by Salvini to complete: «Dante speaks of a dark forest. With another five years of the centre-left in Bergamo the forest would be dark and impenetrable. Only we can provide security, the only possibility is to change direction.”
