The two-time General out of last Sunday’s ceremony at the castle of Mercenasco “Carnival really has nothing to do with this story”
IVREA. Enlarged on the slight slope of the etiquette and of the carnival traditions, the repeated exclusion of General Vincenzo Ceratti from the dinner of the Order of the Mugnaia takes on a vision of personalism and spite that is hardly understandable to most. The absence of the twice General at the side of Mugnaia Paola Gregorutti, last Sunday in the rooms of the Benso di Mercenasco castle, certainly did not go unnoticed. Also because it seems that Gregorutti was asked, in a very explicit way, not to invite his General.
It matters little to know who is wrong and who is right. It matters little whether Ceratti really left Mugnaia Federica Ranieri alone during the 2019 edition and on two occasions. Archived those episodes, the doors of that exclusive club, the association that gathers the Violets, the Generals, the Substitutes of the Grand Chancellor and the Podestà, could also open up for a person who last year, three days before Carnival, had worn the uniform again to save an edition in disarray after the ouster of General Bombonato.
In September 2019 the assembly of the association had voted to bar the entrance to Ceratti. There was also a confrontation between the grand secretary of the Order of the Miller Luisa Mussano and the General 2019-20. In the end a compromise had been found: Ceratti had canceled the invitation, which the same association, as usual, had addressed to him. A compromise that left the doors open for years to come. Doors that last Sunday remained tightly closed. “Ceratti was not invited because in 2019 he decided not to want to join the Order – explains Luisa Mussano -. Now it’s not like we ask him every year. At the moment it is like this, in the future if he should enter we will make the investiture ».
But what does the association blame Ceratti? The 2019 edition was one of the richest in controversies and clashes, starting with the fracture still to be healed with the Officers’ Club. Ceratti has been defined as a divisive figure, but there is no doubt that he was among the most applauded and well-liked by the public. He was reproached for not having accompanied the Mugnaia Federica Ranieri to some dinners and parties not only at the Officers’ Club, but also by the Vivandiere and the Orange Aranceri of the Arduino Scorpions. He has always denied. “If I didn’t go to the Arduini dinner – he says – it’s because I wasn’t invited. In the leaflets that went around the city there was only the name of the Mugnaia. I couldn’t go to a dinner without being invited. ‘
On the exclusion from the Order, Ceratti has little to say. «It seems to me that the decision was taken on a personal level – he says – Carnival has nothing to do with it. I was promised an open discussion with all the shareholders and this never happened ».
The case, however, is still being discussed in the city. Of course, Ceratti’s exclusion is not unique. The last rejection of a General and a Miller dates back to about ten years ago, when, again with a vote, the Order had left out Gianluca Actis Perino and Laura Ghiringhelli, characters 2008. And, to go even further back in time, Emanuela Avignone, Mugnaia 1997, was also excluded, guilty of having gone to a Rai studio in Rome wearing Violetta’s white dress. Her General, Diego Borla, now president of the city council, had not entered with her. For the record, if after a couple of years Actis Perino and Ghiringhelli had been admitted to the Order, Avignon and Borla have considered the matter closed forever and are still out today.