Phone call: «Adriano!! We are here waiting for you with open arms.” Break. “OK Bye”. Then, for the benefit of the bystanders, trembling under seven flags of Forza Italia and one of the League, in front of the windows of the electoral committee in via Carlo Alberto, the announcement: “It’s in via Cavallotti, it’s coming.” Applause. Wait. At 5.45pm the bells of the Arengario of Monza ring, a light drizzle falls, and the new senator approaches, confused in the bustle of the historic center of his city. (read all about voting). He reels off his first political evaluation, with a broad smile: «I’m very happy about everything, because we also won in Monza city, where last year we lost and instead today we won». Question/consideration: «Would Silvio be proud of her?». It’s like a flash: all joy instantly disappears from Adriano Galliani’s face, his expression becomes prim, his eyes raised to the sky, his hands clasped in a gesture of prayer, and his demeanor turns to that of a cardinal as he takes a few more steps and goes straight to the meaning of these by-elections to the Senate: “I think so, I did it for him.”
The seats of the Republic are not inherited, but in this challenge between Galliani and Marco Cappato (radical, supported by the entire centre-left, who he finished with 39.53 percent, against the 51.46 of the CEO of Monza Calcio) was a whole different story. Because it was the seat left vacant since the death of Silvio Berlusconi, in the Monza/Brianza constituency which has always been a kingdom of Forza Italia, in the territory that includes Arcore and the Brianteo stadium, where Galliani spent a shared second football youth with Berlusconi, after making Milan’s history. He himself frames it this way: «This victory is dedicated to Silvio Berlusconi, only to him. Don’t make me cry. At this moment my thoughts are turned to Silvio, I have him in mind, 44 years of life together is a long time. We celebrate with moderation, because this seat was his and I would have liked it to remain with my master, the guide of my life, my everything, my president.”
This is why the centre-right side “could not lose”: in this dispute which brought less than one voter in five to the polls and which did not change anything in the parliamentary balance, but which was disproportionately overloaded with symbolic value. Also for this reason, “with good luck”, Galliani followed the counting from home and only left when victory was certain. “My family asked me,” Galliani recalls when speaking about the candidacy. And the family thanks him at the end of the afternoon. «I am really very happy for the election of Adriano Galliani – explains Marina Berlusconi -, a close friend of my father. His election testifies to the great affection of the Brianza people towards my father: his seat goes to a person of great human and professional qualities.” And Pier Silvio: «He is the right person to take over the senatorial seat that my father occupied. His experience, his balance and his determination are a guarantee for the citizens who elected him. Really congratulations, Adriano.”
Cappato worked in the squares and markets, with dozens of volunteers and donors, he collected over 52 thousand votes: not that of the Pd mayor of Monza, Paolo Pilotto, who, despite his party supporting the treasurer of the association Luca Coscioni, had first asked for a «local candidate» and then announced to vote blank ballot. «Aware of the initial conditions – concludes Cappato – we will not emerge from this challenge beaten, but stronger for the challenges we face».