“Power cannot be managed by a village clan, which arrived there without knowing it.”
From 2011 to 2022 we have witnessed constitutional forcing, reinterpretations of roles and prerogatives that were once unthinkable. Palace games and partially revealed backroom deals, which Lucia Annunziata tries to reconstruct through the direct testimony of the protagonists of that season, revelations, confidences and ex-post analyses.
An approach that we greatly appreciated because, despite going into the detail of the reconstruction, the author does not reveal clear political judgments, except with some sarcastic (but necessary) jokes in some passages, such as when she is faced with the defenestration of Letta in favor of Renzi. A conceptual text that through the news makes us understand the political mechanisms behind every single statement, even that might seem politically irrelevant.
A political/institutional crisis that began and ended in the same way, that is, with the installation with fanfare of presidents of the technical council such as Monti and Draghi, supported by large majorities, only to be forced to leave with the death knell. A perhaps necessary step, like a long gestation process that could have led to the birth of the third republic.
At the end of the day, net of the numerous tenants who have taken turns at Palazzo Chigi, we realize how numerous the challenges were not won and the opportunities missed, with only one major defeat: Italy. We recommend reading the book trying to free yourself, as much as possible, of your political beliefs. A difficult but necessary exercise to try to understand some passages of recent history.
Due to the amount of information it contains, the book is suitable for those who already have a good basis of political knowledge and conscience, so as not to run the risk of getting stuck in the first chapter. As regards the style, the author’s journalistic experience allows you to read dozens and dozens of pages without realizing it, and this is a very notable plus point in a book of almost six hundred pages.
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Lucia Annunziata, The tenant, Feltrinelli, Milano, 2022