First the gesture, then the controversy and finally the apology. The gesture of the newly elected mayor of Merano Katharina Zeller, who immediately took off her tricolor sash during her inauguration at the Town Hall, is causing discussion. In the scene, immortalized by the cameras, Zeller can be heard asking her predecessor Dario Dal Medico who is helping her put it on: "Are you sure I really have to?". Then she immediately takes it off and adds "let's put it away, come on". Dal Medico reacts annoyed and when Zeller invites him to keep the key to the city together, he points to the sash and says: "You put that one on and I'll keep this one (the key, ed.)". The mayor responds laughingly: "Come on, then you won't keep it".
The gesture immediately sparked controversy. Provincial councilor Christian Bianchi (Forza Italia) spoke of a "serious act against all Italians in Merano by the new mayor", while the vice president of the Province of Bolzano Marco Galateo (Fdi) expressed "deep indignation and firm condemnation". In the Province of Bolzano, the chain with the medal is considered equivalent to the tricolor sash and almost all German-speaking mayors prefer the chain.
After the controversy, Zeller decides to correct his aim by clarifying what happened: «My reaction in removing the tricolor sash immediately after it had been placed on my shoulders must in no way be interpreted as a gesture of contempt towards the symbols of the Republic or towards the tricolor itself. I will wear the sash with the utmost respect in all circumstances provided for by the institutional protocol, as my German-speaking predecessors have always done». Then he points the finger at his predecessor. The gesture of «Dal Medico in wanting to make me wear the sash too — in a forced manner and outside of local practices — was perceived by me as a provocative gesture and a clear sign of institutional rudeness », he explains.
For the Democratic Party senator and former mayor of Bolzano Luigi Spagnolli, Zeller made "a mistake", but he excludes that "there was any intention to vilify the Tricolour". The former mayor finally recalls his practice: "In the events in which I performed the function of official government mayor, ceremonies, official meetings etc., always the tricolour sash; at the parties organised in the Municipalities, in which I represented the community of Bolzano but not the State, the medallion. In all doubtful cases, both the sash and the medallion. I do not remember any controversy".
(Online Union)
