Remove the names of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino from the Latina park to replace them with that of Arnaldo Mussolini, brother of the Duce. The idea was put forward by the undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy, Claudio Durigon, during a rally in the Pontine capital and immediately found a barrage from the Democratic Party.
Maria Falcone, sister of Giovanni Falcone, the judge killed by the mafia in ’92, replies to journalists who ask her for a comment: «The words of the Northern League undersecretary Claudio Durigon leave us stunned so much that it is impossible to believe that they were actually pronounced. We trust that the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers will distance themselves from this proposal which does not deserve comment ».
The story of the park – and the controversy it brings with it – has distant origins and has accompanied the history of the city practically from its foundation. The park, in fact, was originally named after the younger brother of the founder of fascism. In 1943, the arrival of allied troops in the city convinced everyone to put the recent past behind them and cancel the name of Mussolini. This until 1993 with the election of the mayor Msi, Ajmone Finestra, who proposed it again. The last intervention was by the current mayor Damiano Coletta: the decision to dedicate the park to the memory of the two magistrates murdered by the mafia seemed unassailable. But the looming elections have the power to question even the most apparently shared choices.
And here is the proposal of the Northern League undersecretary Claudio Durigon, launched on Wednesday during an electoral meeting: “This is the story of Latina that someone also wanted to cancel with that name change to that park of ours, which must go back to being that Mussolini park which has always been, we are on this and we want to move forward ». Words that provoke the firm response of the dem: «Hands off the Falcone and Borsellino Park!», We read in a post by the Pd deputies: «They want to delete the names of two anti-mafia heroes to restore the references to the twenty years. This speaks volumes about the damage that the right could do to Latina. The Park of Falcone and Borsellino cannot be touched! ».