Adnkronos (Adnkronos) – A tricolor cake prominently displaying the Forza Italia symbol, topped with a photograph of Silvio Berlusconi "cleaning" Marco Travaglio's chair by Michele Santoro. An image that has become an integral part of Berlusconi's iconography and has quickly gone viral. According to Adnkronos, this is the tribute Forza Italia will pay to Berlusconi's memory on September 29, the 90th anniversary of his birth, during a celebration in Naples in memory of the center-right founder, promoted by the chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Maurizio Gasparri, and the regional coordinator, Fulvio Martusciello.
The incident of the handkerchief that the Cavaliere surprisingly pulled out of his pocket to ironically 'dust' the chair, vacated by the director of 'Il Fatto Quotidiano', dates back to January 10, 2013.
That evening, La7 was airing "Servizio Pubblico," and the special guest of the episode was the president of Forza Italia, who sat in the chair occupied shortly before the journalist. A gesture that marked the history of Italian television.
The party chose the Campania capital, specifically the stage of the Mostra d'Oltremare (in its heyday, one of Berlusconi's favorite locations for rallies and electoral conventions), to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Cav with the event 'Silvio Berlusconi's Second Youth'.
Organizers explain that they are expecting "politicians, journalists, friends, and people who shared part of the founder of Forza Italia's long public life." Many young people will be present, including those who didn't experience that period directly. The initiative, they assure, stems from "a specific choice: more of a birthday celebration than a commemoration": Berlusconi will be portrayed through politics, television, communications, music, images, and those episodes that have become part of Italian culture.
Even the memes that still circulate on social media today among young people who weren't even born in 1994. "September 29th," Gasparri remarks, "is a date that holds a special meaning for us. "We want to remember Silvio with the affection of a community that owes him so much and with the respect his history deserves. We've thought of a celebration," the former minister explains, "that can bring together those who have shared his journey with him for so many years and the young people who are now joining Forza Italia."
The program brings together different worlds and generations. Journalists and public figures will take turns on stage and in the live broadcasts, in a narrative constructed through testimonies, images, and moments related to communication and customs. The event will be hosted by Martina Manzo and Fiorenza Ceniccola, two under-30s invited to represent the intersection between the history of Forza Italia and a generation that grew up many years after its birth. "No melancholy, no nostalgia, September 29th will be a celebration," says Martusciello, who adds: "It's the ninetieth birthday of a point of reference, not a memory. And it's a celebration of Forza Italia, its creation."
It will be "an evening," explains MEP Martusciello, "where what Berlusconi sowed will emerge: enthusiastic young people, love for the future, the desire to stay and change the country. Young people are one of the threads of the initiative. Even the title, 'Silvio Berlusconi's Second Youth,' was born from the idea of bringing together those who lived alongside him for thirty years of political history and those who encounter Berlusconi today through a video, a photograph, a joke, or a fragment found on social media. Berlusconi had a rare ability: to speak of tomorrow," emphasizes the head of the parliamentary delegation of Forza Italia in Brussels, who explains: "This is why we wanted young people to play an important role on September 29th. We don't want to explain to them who Berlusconi was. We also want to hear what they see of him today. This is perhaps the most surprising thing: ninety years after his birth, he still manages to speak to young people who didn't experience the era in which it all began."
"Naples," Martusciello concludes, "will thus celebrate Silvio Berlusconi's ninetieth birthday by bringing together different generations: those who shared part of his political journey with him and those who today are discovering his story through images, words, and testimonies. This birthday celebration is designed to remember him in the context that most closely reflected his approach to politics: the future."
policy
webinfo@adnkronos.com (Web Info)