She does not have the right “pedigree” like Giorgia Meloni or Ignazio La Russa, with whom she founded Fratelli d’Italia 10 years ago. For Guido Crosetto – who today spun the third vote of the Quirinale winning 114 votes, 11 less than Sergio Mattarella – the political parable begins with the DC in the 1980s. But over time it ranges, moves and arrives at the antipodes. In 2000 he landed in Forza Italia, in 2012 the passage to the right until he left the scene, to become an entrepreneur in the aerospace sector. Nice face that together with the size of a «good giant», have made him a well-known face on TV. The photo of him surprisingly picking up the slender Meloni on a stage in Rome years ago, in the Benigni-Berlinguer style, has remained iconic.
But many colleagues of opposite faiths also appreciate it. The confirmation lies in today’s votes: almost double those of the Brothers of Italy, which stops at 64 major electors. And the announcement of the choice of FdI, it is emphasized in areas close to the party, arrived by open ballot, when the second “call” was beginning. So even to the “downside” of other potentials, yes. In any case, Crosetto concisely thanks: “I am touched and honored.” In the third black smoke for the Colle, the surprise of the day is the former deputy and former undersecretary born in Cuneo 58 years ago. Spotted in the corridors of the Chamber, he is surrounded by those who want to congratulate. And the compliments and handshakes are bipartisan. He himself defines himself on Twitter as «free from prejudices by conviction, guarantor by DNA, conservative by birth, respectful by choice». He does not fail to add that “he is now a free man”. For decades, however, politics has characterized his life.
During his university years (which he never ends, later confessing that he had told a lie) he engages in the DC and takes up positions at a regional and national level, up to the role of economic adviser to the then Prime Minister Giovanni Goria. Almost 20 years later he enrolled in FI and in 2001 he was elected deputy. He will do an encore in 2006 and 2008, this time with the People of Freedom. And in the fourth government, Berlusconi takes on the post of Undersecretary of Defense. Often with outsider positions, for example harshly contesting the choices of the government, Minister Tremonti and some European rules. Until the divorce with FI, in particular against the policies of the Monti government, and therefore the birth of FdI. But the adventure with the new party does not prove easy: in 2013 Crosetto was not elected to the Senate or even to the European Parliament two years later. The return to the political arena comes in 2018, when he is re-elected to Montecitorio. But two months later he resigned to return to lead the Federation of Italian companies for aerospace and defense and security, a role he had in the parliamentary break. Since then no repentance, it seems.