Donna Assunta Almirante, the widow of Giorgio Almirante, founder and historical leader of the Italian Social Movement, died in the early hours of the morning. She was an exuberant woman and once she went so far as to say of herself: “I am empress mother. The Missino people are mine. ” One thing is certain. Since her Giorgio was gone, it was 1988, Raffaella Assunta Stramandinoli Almirante had become one of the very last witnesses of a distant and long season, those 40 years during which the nostalgics of fascism had lived in a sort of political apartheid , social, anthropological. As foreigners at home. And in fact, when in 1995 the old MSI had been transformed into a National Alliance, assuming anti-fascism as a founding value, the widow Almirante had opposed that historical turning point and in fact for her whole world she had remained the custodian of the memory of Giorgio Almirante, the last charismatic leader of the Italian right. Her rare utterances were very feared, because they could lead to a blessing or an excommunication from which it was not easy to recover, because they came from the “Almirante house”.
Donna Assunta, as those who loved her called her, was true, smoky, lapidary and her character ended up marking her existence: that of a provincial girl who married very young to a man much older than her, who he met another one with whom he fell in love and who in the end managed to emancipate himself, to affirm himself precisely with his character.
Raffaella Assunta Stramandinoli was born in Catanzaro one hundred years ago, on July 14, 1921, therefore one year before the march on Rome. Her had been an adolescence like many others (“Normal, happy, in Catanzaro, nothing special”), until she, still very young, married the Marquis Federico de ‘Medici, an agricultural landowner, in an arranged marriage. She is 17, he is 30 more. Until, it was 1951, in Cirò Marina, Assunta met Giorgio Almirante in the house of a relative, who at the time was married, but only with a civil ceremony.
She said: «He dressed very badly, to be ashamed, with the Robespierre shirt, sandals and nails out, he was gaunt, wrapped in a raincoat, but I was struck by the eloquence of a charmer and the beauty. He was beautiful ». For many years of lovers, the two begin to live together, without getting married, in 1968 when the Marquis de ‘Medici died and Almirante was divorced. Donna Assunta will recount years later: “I was very much in favor of divorce, but so was Giorgio who fought in defense of the law because they had placed him in the minority in the executive of the MSI”.
Sure Giorgio jokingly called her “Zio Adolfo”, but over the years his wife had become influential. She said to her: «Donna Assunta, I would like to be part of the secretariat, of the central committee…». She gave suggestions, including that of Gianfranco Fini: “My husband was also convinced that the party needed a young man who had not had relations with fascism and who could carry on a reinvigorated MSI, but with a ‘great old man’ behind his back. . Unfortunately, the good Lord has changed the cards on the table ».
Donna Assunta was influential but never entered politics also because her thinking is difficult to categorize. Pope francesco? «I like him very much. He is human and knows how to talk to people ». Have you ever been missina? “True, I’ve never fully embraced their culture. I just loved the concept of homeland to the fullest: I feel Italian and Calabrian. I took this idea around the world ». And so? “I’ve always been on the right. But also a little left, in my heart. I think with my head ». The Roman salute? “I like it only for hygienic reasons: I hate sweaty hands.” Women’s participation in politics? “Universal suffrage” was a show event “, that’s enough, with this fashion of women in politics. I am against it. A woman will never have the authority to prevail »» Berlinguer? “What a wonderful person. Did they see each other with Giorgio, especially in the darkest and most dangerous moments », Alessandra Mussolini? “What is that to do? You have also opened a pizzeria. She can do everything because she is not a real Mussolini. She is goliardic, she is not a serious person like her grandfather. Her surname is not on her “. Giuliano Ferrara once wrote of Donna Assunta: “she is the classic type of charismatic power: if Max Weber, the great sociologist of the first half of the twentieth century, were alive, he would have studied her case”.