It all happens on Sunday, the day after the convention at the East End studios, the day in which the Forza Italia general staff sums up what was seen in Milan, takes note of what it hopes will be “a new beginning” and makes an important decision. The curtain falls on the comings and goings of visits from San Raffaele — «The president has spent a great deal in recent weeks for the success of the event, now let’s leave him alone», is the choice made by the family together with martha fascinatesthe only one who will remain by his side – and therefore, from yesterday evening, he will expect to see Silvio Berlusconi in the flesh only once he is discharged from the hospital, a decision that serves to protect him and avoid loads of stress in the last mile of hospitalization. This applies to the blue management group and also to allies such as Matteo Salvini, who aims to see the Cavaliere live again soon after recording that he saw him from a distance “very well” in Saturday’s speech.
On Sunday mornings, in Forza Italia, there are those who rediscover the pleasure of a hot telephone, as well as coffee. «In Milan there was the perception of our change of pace, we can see that we worked well. And I’m having the proof this morning, everyone from the territories is looking for me, it’s understood that only we can build the political space of the moderates», he confides to his closest friends Alessandro Sortedeputy but above all the new regional coordinator of Lombardy, who succeeded Licia Ronzulli after the overturning of the blue organization charts.
Berlusconi is still at the top of the force pyramid. Then there are Antonio Tajani and the role of Marta Fascina, the centrality of the government delegation and the confirmation that the most delicate dossiers – such as those on appointments – remain the terrain of Gianni Letta. But underneath all this, in a complicated task of hinge, there is a kind of four of aces, four characters who grew up on bread and politics, “partisans” by vocation, skilled in organization, who delight more in weaving the web of militancy with the territories than in organizing campaigns on social networks. In addition to fate, they are part of the group Stephen Benignicoordinator of Forza Italia Giovani, Tullio FerranteUndersecretary for Transport, e Alexander Battilocchio. The first three, all under forty, have been cataloged in the past months as the «Marta Fascina group»; the fourth, older than about ten years, is tied to the train Tajani-Barelli and before joining Forza Italia he had spent twenty years in the New Socialist Party, arriving in 2004 to be the youngest Italian elected to the European Parliament.
For a year now, especially the first three have been attending Arcore. During one of the first meetings, they were the ones who put the flea about the reorganization of Forza Italia in Berlusconi’s ear. «President, we have the best pilot in the world. But if the best driver doesn’t have a car up to it, how can you do it?». “You convinced me. Bring me some proposals», replied the Knight. The work that led to the Milan convention therefore started long before the internal shake-up of the party that catapulted them into the first circle of blue power. «At the convention in Milan – explains Benigni – there were six hundred young people on Friday and over a thousand on Saturday. We haven’t seen such a massive turnout in years. The key, on which President Berlusconi has insisted, is the reorganization of the party. This is what we did: listened to the territories, valued the best young people, rewarded their commitment, their desire for militancy, their passion. And when you move following this guide, let’s say that you start seeing results even in a short time».
Because the novelty is essentially this: Forza Italia which returns to party, which rediscovers the almost twentieth-century organization of militancy. More buses on the motorway and fewer posts on Instagram, more live conventions and fewer meetings via streaming, more territory and less centre, more attention to detail and fewer social filters. “At the convention – says Sorte – there were flags smooth and polished to test the human eye.” Before that, evidently, she had seen crumpled ones too.