From today the name of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is registered in the Famedio of Milan, the pantheon of citizens who have brought prestige to the city .
Together with him, 13 other people, men and women who made Milan great, were inscribed in the Temple of Fame inside the monumental cemetery where the remains of Alessandro Manzoni also rest.
«By registering for the Famedio our city gives credit to the boy from the island, to the entrepreneur who created tens of thousands of jobs - we read in the motivations of the Municipality commission for registrations -, to the political leader and to the sign indelible mark left by his visionary talent, as well as by his overflowing personality, both appreciated and criticized, but without any doubt crucial in the recent history of Milan and Italy".
Present at the ceremony were his brother Paolo Berlusconi, his lifelong friends Marcello Dell'Utri and Fedele Confalonieri, exponents of Forza Italia such as the senator newly elected to Berlusconi's seat in Monza, Adriano Galliani, his long-time friend, the group leader in the Senate Licia Ronzulli, the deputy Alessandro Cattaneo.
«Petitness and resentment, which are a source of hatred, are not deserved. While Silvio was a generous, good, fair man and above all he had a lot of love inside him", commented his brother Paolo Berlusconi in response to the controversy. «I want to quote Dante who only said 'don't worry about them, but look and pass by' - he added -. It is an honor for my brother and our family to be remembered in this temple. It is also an honor for the city of Milan to have had a citizen like Silvio who represented a visionary entrepreneur, a man of sport who won everything there was to win. A man of government, a statesman who was known and loved in all countries of the world."
"I was sorry about the controversy over Silvio Berlusconi's registration at the Famedio, I take note of it because it is clear that citizens have the right to demonstrate and the institutions have the duty to decide", explained the mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala. “It is a decision of the city council, not of the mayor,” he specified. «A fair and dutiful recognition from the city which has always been its point of reference and to which it has given so much», the words of the president of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana.
(Unioneonline/D)
