Ignazio La Russa, bundle and hammer

Busts of Mussolini, Molotov cocktails and wrenches. From Ragalna to Milan, from Almirante to Meloni, up to the presidency of the Senate. The ghost of April 25th. The novel of Ignatius and his family. A century of the right

“Slam La Russa on the front page!” is not just an order from a director. What other president of the Senate has ever entered a film? The title is “Slam the monster on the front page”, the director is Marco Bellocchio, the protagonist is Gian Maria Volonté. The year, 1972. After twenty-seven seconds he appears, Ignazio Benito Maria La Russa, then secretary of the MSI of Milan, the cartoon of the Italian right, his “man of the century”, the ceramist of the twentieth century: “I will never throw the bust of Mussolini, it is a gift from my father”. His name was Antonino La Russa, and he was a fascist, born in 1913. One hundred and ten years have passed. But have they passed? During World War II he was taken prisoner by the British at El Alamein. He was interned in the Fascist criminal camp in Egypt. When he returned to Italy he refused to collaborate with the Anglo-Americans, the liberators. It would have been a betrayal. He didn’t “cheat”. He was a criminal lawyer from Ragalna, a town near Paternò, in the province of Catania. Black stones and black sky of Etna. Black on black. In 1942 he held the position of secretary of the PNF of Paternò, in 1946 of the MSI. He moved from Sicily to Milan. Senator from 1972 to 1992. Three sons (Vincenzo, Ignazio, Romano), one daughter (Emilia). This was his father.