«I was there with him, in that room at the San Raffaele in Milan, in the early afternoon of Saturday 10 June, when (my father, ed.) wrote these lines. And I will never, ever forget."

Thus Marina Berlusconi in the preface to the new book by Paolo Del Debbio, published this morning by Corriere della Sera. The book contains Silvio Berlusconi's latest writings. «I had visited him the previous evening - he recalls - I had seen him well. I returned the next day, unfortunately I found another man. Abandoned in an armchair, very tired, gloomy, suffering. He was accompanied from the chair to the table. He asked for paper and pen, bowed his head and began to write."

«I sat next to him and watched him work – continues Marina –. At a certain point he stopped, looked up, stared into my eyes and said something that I will carry with me until my last moment: "You see, Marina, life is like this: come, do do do... and then you go away'".

«He finished the first page, he handed it to me, I read - he continues - And the world fell on me. Because I realized that what he was writing was his ideal legacy, his testament, the synthesis of the beliefs and values that had always accompanied him. He continued to write, and when he had finished he asked to be taken back to bed. I remained there frozen, pretending not to have understood what we both understood very well."

«Those four pages – concludes Marina Berlusconi – I then read and reread dozens of times, I turned them over in my hands for hours, for days, and every time I can't breathe. They are a very private memory, but I think it is right that they should not remain just a private memory. They don't contain anything new, but I like to share them with those who loved my father, with those who believed in him and continue to believe in his ideas."

(Unioneonline/vl)