Meloni quotationist: from Steve Jobs to John Paul II, all the references of his speech

The women who, in the history of the country, have opened the way to Palazzo Chigi, “with their example”, the heroes of the fight against the mafia, religious and political inspirations, the great Italians to whom the action will refer of his government and the military. What emerges from Giorgia Meloni’s speech in Montecitorio is a variegated Pantheon, between explicit quotations and nominal references. In the head, an almost obligatory quote, for women who “with the boards of their own example” have built “the staircase that today allows me to climb and break the heavy glass roof placed on our heads”. Basically pioneering women, each in his field.

They range from the patriots of the Risorgimento Cristina Trivulzio di Belgioioso, elegant organizer of lounges and barricades, and Rosalie Montmasson “stubborn to the point of starting with the Thousand who made Italy”, to the innovator of female equalization such as Alfonsina Strada, the first cyclist to race in men’s competitions or Maria Montessori and Grazia Deledda, “who with their example threw open the gates of education for girls across the country”. The scientists Rita Levi Montalcini, Fabiola Gianotti and astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti could not be missing. But also bipartisan politicians and journalists who have made the history of the country: from Tina Anselmi to Nilde Jotti, from Oriana Fallaci to Ilaria Alpi and Mariagrazia Cutuli, from the former Minister of Justice Marta Cartabia, who above all was the first woman to preside over the court constitutional, to Maria Elisabetta Casellati, minister of the new government, but also the first woman to the presidency of the Senate.

The quote that everyone took for sure arrived on time. That of Pope John Paul II. The new Prime Minister has chosen a precise phrase, which defines the most repeated concept in the speech at Deputies, that of “freedom” and represents, together with the subsequent comment, a bit of the sum of the words spoken in the courtroom by Meloni. “Freedom does not consist in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we must”. And then: “I – said the premier – have always been a free person, so I intend to do what I have to”.

And given that freedom was the most repeated concept, it’s also the one for which Meloni spent the most quotes. In addition to the Polish pontiff, the president borrowed the definition of freedom of one of the pillars of the Enlightenment, Baron de Montesquieu “Freedom is that good that makes you enjoy every other good”. But it does not end there, because in the speech the leader of FdI makes an unexpected choice. Quote Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, always a liberal idol, and in fact he does it in some way to correct it. “To his famous ‘Be crazy, be hungry’, – says the premier – I would like to add ‘be free'”.

All religious references serve above all to give a political perspective. And if St. Benedict of Norcia, “an Italian, the main patron of the whole of Europe”, serves to recall “the posture that the government will hold within the European institutions. Because that is the place where Italy will make her voice heard loudly, as befits a great founding nation “, Pope francesco is used to explain the approach that your government will have to the problem of poverty, with the revision of the Basic income. If the Pontiff said: “Poverty is not fought with welfare, the door to a man’s dignity is work”. Then Meloni comments: “The way it was conceived and built, the DRC represented a defeat for those who were able to play his part for Italy, as well as for himself and for his family”.

In the premier’s speech, an inevitable thanks to the armed forces that “have kept Italy’s prestige high in the most difficult contexts, even at the cost of their own lives: the homeland will always be grateful to you”. As a metaphor for Italy, however, during his long speech, Meloni chose that of the ship, with a consequent quote, the one used by the American aircraft carrier Independence for the Italian training ship Amerigo Vespucci: “The most beautiful world”.

Then there is the great Italians chapter. The first, which has always been a reference of the social right and personally of Meloni herself, is Paolo Borsellino. “I started doing politics at 15, the day after the Via D’Amelio massacre,” the premier still remembers. “The path that led me to be Prime Minister today stems from the example of that hero”. After him, the citation of all the victims-heroes of that season of the fight against the mafia is a must: Giovanni Falcone, Francesca Morvillo, Rosario Livatino, Rocco Chinnici, Pio La Torre, Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, Piersanti Mattarella, Emanuela Loi, Libero Grassi, Don Pino Puglisi. After them, and to talk about the posture on migration and cooperation with Africa, Meloni obviously quotes Enrico Mattei: “A great Italian who was among the architects of post-war reconstruction, capable of making agreements of mutual convenience with nations from all over the World. Italy must promote a ‘Mattei plan’ for Africa, a virtuous model of collaboration and growth between the European Union and African nations ”.

Among the great Italians of Meloni, in some way, there is also an honorable member who is in the classroom to listen to the speech: Giulio Tremonti. For Giorgia the first to make the proposal for a common European debt. “For years opposed, sometimes derided, and finally adopted” with the PNRR by the EU.

And the British conservative philosopher could not be missing either Roger Scruton, for some time now among the most cited by the leader of FdI in speeches and speeches. She uses it, as she often has already done, to talk about environmentalism. “Ecology is the most vivid example of the alliance between those who are there, those who have been there, and those who will come after us”. The main news quote concerns a case that has long been fuel for right-wing and Grillism propaganda. “We have undertaken the commitment to limit the excess of discretion in juvenile justice, with guaranteed and objective custody and adoption procedures, so that there are never more Bibbiano cases”, said Meloni.