Goodbye beautiful Milan, as the Festa trilogy concludes on the parable of the PCI
Today, January 14, “Addio Milano bella”, the new book by Lodovico Festa, is released in bookstores. Antonio Pilati's review
"Goodbye Milano bella" is the final chapter of a trilogy that, in the attractive and multipurpose form of the thriller, Lodovico Festa dedicates to the evolution of that particular human community (lifestyle, customs, obligations, hopes, lies) which was the Italian Communist Party.
The dates are important: the beginning of the saga is located in 1977 when the PCI is at the peak of its parable (in the 1976 policies it had the best result in its history), it is on the threshold of the government and directs the majority to the inside of a still solid political system; the second episode takes place in 1984 immediately after Berlinguer's death when the PCI engages in a fierce clash with Craxi's PSI that blocks the political system and also the hopes of recovery of Italian society; the last episode is set in 1993, the PCI has changed its name and style but its heirs are still trying to give the PSI the coup de grace, the party system is overwhelmed and magistrates and special agencies take its place.
The trilogy spans 15 crucial years of our political life, from the eve of the Moro crime to Mani Pulite and is a kind of counter-history of Italy, a reflection on the failure of parties – architraves of the Republic – in giving direction and hope to a society that in the 1980s it showed vitality and a spirit of initiative. The point of view is that of the cadres and militants of the PCI, a generous and hopeful community whose leaders guide it along twisted and cross paths (the historical compromise impossible due to international ties; hatred for the PSI, with the exception of of the courageous and losing Milanese faction; the moral question that replaces politics with ethical judgment and leads to the disasters of Casta and grillismo) giving a hand to the disaster of politics.
"Goodbye beautiful Milan" is the moment of synthesis, the point at which we draw conclusions and we discover – just to be on the subject – that the trilogy is a matryoshka: yellow is the scenic link to tell politics as a carousel of feelings and ambitions; the PCI is the community staged as a place for the plot but above all as an engine of politics; the counter-history of Italy is the final reflexive result.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/addio-milano-bella-la-recensione-di-pilati/ on Thu, 14 Jan 2021 06:20:39 +0000.