the night the First Republic died – Corriere.it

April 30, 1993, it’s getting dark. It would be one of those fantastic spring evenings, which only in Rome… But it turns into the night the First Republic died (and maybe the seeds of populism were sown). Largo Febo, a handkerchief of stones set among the alleys of Piazza Navona, is transformed into an arena. Below the Raphael hotel, Bettino Craxi’s house, at least 200 angry people await the historic leader of the PSI without even knowing whether or not he is inside the hotel.
The climate is hot: Italy, just a year earlier, was first hit in the heart by the mafia massacres that killed the magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. And behind comes Mani Pulite, the investigation by the Milan pool, which will wipe out an entire political class, permeated by corruption.

These are days of clamorous street protests, which symbolically culminate in those few moments during which Craxi, who has become an emblem of political malpractice, is pelted by the toss of coins, accompanied by insults of all kinds. 30 years have passed since that night, which we retrace with the help of some protagonists: Bobo Craxi, son of Bettino; Gherardo Colombo, prosecutor who investigated Tangentopoli; Achille Occhetto, at the time secretary of the PDS, a party that brought together thousands of people in Piazza Navona that evening; And Luciano Del Castillo, the reporter who managed to take the only photo of the attempted lynching under the Raphael.

The record. In Montecitorio (by secret ballot), the evening before redde rationem in Largo Febo, four of the six authorizations to proceed for corruption and receiving stolen goods that the judiciary had requested against Craxi, who had been forced by the scandal to resign as secretary of the PSI, had been rejected. The PDS is organizing a large demonstration in Piazza Navona. There are thousands of people. One group of these has the idea of ​​moving just 300 meters below the Raphael. However, the protest unexpectedly becomes bipartisan, because in addition to the pidiessini, there are also Northern League supporters and several supporters of the MSI, animated by Teodoro Buontempo, who arrives out of breath from the Chamber with two small bags full of 50 and 100 lire coins: along the way he had stopped at a tobacconist’s to change a 10,000 lire banknote (here the story of Delio Andreoli, at the time Roman militant of the Youth Front, the youth organization of the then MSI).
Those coins are distributed to all present. And whoever is left without waves thousand-lira banknotes, shouting: «Bettino, do you want these too?».

Then, all of a sudden, the situation escalates. “Here it is, there it is!” So as soon as Craxi leaves the door the choirs start and a rain of objects follows: cigarettes, stones, pieces of glass and above all coins. Only a large cordon of police in riot gear manages to preserve Craxi’s safety. This sequence is filmed by only two cameras Rai And Tg4. Given the virulence of the various protests underway, at first those images remain in the background: only later will their value as a crossroads of Italian politics be understood. That scene, in fact, not only put an end to Craxi’s career as a politician, but also symbolically sanctioned the transition from the First to the Second Republic.

The former prosecutor Gherardo Colombo he was one of the pillars of the Mani Pulite pool, which together with his colleagues had identified a real system of corruption in Italy, closely linked to the illicit financing of political parties. We ask how it feels to review the video of the dimes 30 years later. “It has the same effect on me as it did then: I believe it is always necessary to respect people,” explains Colombo al
Courier —. On that occasion the honorable Craxi’s dignity was violated: those images affect me negatively, people should not be pilloried». Would you do something differently? «Who knows, perhaps I should have insisted on the idea that I had expressed in an interview in July 1992. I am convinced that the system of corruption should have been resolved through a legislative provision which provided that anyone who told how things had gone would not go to prison , had returned what he had unlawfully appropriated and had removed himself from political life for a reasonable period. It was not done and the system as a whole did not emerge. The former prosecutor of the pool then recalls that he has never spoken to Craxi: “I don’t think I’ve ever had the opportunity to do so either during the investigations and trials, or in other circumstances”. And finally Colombo does not believe it is possible to distinguish between the First and Second Republics: «For one Republic to end and another to begin, changes must be made at the constitutional level in the organization of the State, as happened in France. It didn’t happen in Italy, so I don’t understand why a distinction is made between the First and Second Republics».

Achille Occhetto, at the time secretary of the PDS and in strong contrast with Craxi, shortly before he had held the rally in Piazza Navona. The anger of the square, after the Chamber had rejected the authorizations to proceed against Craxi with a secret ballot, was almost out of control and some of those demonstrators then found themselves under the
Raphael together with the MSI enemies. «However, I would like to clarify that that thing was organized by the MSI – recalls Occhetto -. I was immediately against it, because it was a summary stuff, an unacceptable reaction. With Craxi there were deep divisions, but those images struck me a lot: humanly and politically. It was an example of barbarism triggered by justicialist fury: that night, without a doubt, the way was opened for populism”. Did he ever talk to Craxi after that evening? «I spoke to him before, many times. After the assault with the coins we never heard from each other again. Today I would say exactly the same things to him: it was unacceptable barbarism.”

From the MSI front there is the testimony of Francesco Storace, who at the time was the head of the press office of Gianfranco Fini, at the time secretary of the party: «I am not at all aware that that protest under Raphael had been organized by any of ours – explains Storace -. I have zero memories of that night, but the images of the coin toss are horrendous.”

Of that dramatic night, in addition to the two live videos, a single photo remains as evidence, taken in a very fortunate way by Luciano Del Castillo, who climbed onto the embankment of a construction site. «I was 32 years old, I was a freelancer. Those were different times: there were films to be developed in time for the newspapers and
there were flashes: when they downloaded you were cheated – recalls the photojournalist -. That day I went out at dawn hoping to get the right photo: in Rome there were protests everywhere. At one point I leave everyone in Piazza Navona and go to Largo Febo: “But isn’t Craxi inside the Raphael?” I ask myself. The intuition was right. But it was evening, the flash was almost empty: I had to shoot only without fail. So I climbed up I don’t know where and hoped. I was the only photographer, but I only knew I’d made it when I developed the photos late at night.” The tension was strong: «Something hit me too – concludes Del Castillo -. I understood that the king had fallen. Of those moments I remember the pride of this man who came out of what was his home with his head held high. He could have escaped out the back, but I think he wanted to teach everyone a lesson. In the photo it looks great. Everyone around Craxi covered up, while he held his head held high».