Berlusconi's dream world

Revenge politics in Italy ... Independence of prosecutors under attack ... Constitutional assault ... The years of lead ... Investigations reopened into old murders ... High drama at Milan's Leoncavallo ... Rome correspondent Silvana Olivetti reports 

Magistrati protesting 

Italian politics have resumed after the summer break, with the politicians returning after having recharged their batteries on the beaches of southern Italy and Greece.

Independence of the magistracy

Silvio Berlusconi's dream of exacting revenge on the criminal justice system that convicted him is closer to being realised.  

Controversial changes to the structure of the judiciary and the prosecuting branch will be voted on in late October.

The aim of the Meloni Government is to take away the prosecutors' independence enshrined in the 1948 Italian Constitution. This was also a plan of the late Silveo Berlusoni, who believed that he was persecuted by left-wing prosecutors and judges. 

Berlusconi passed a lot of self-serving ad hominem legislation – such as ensuring that people over the age of 70 should not be sentenced to a full-time prison sentence – but he did not have the parliamentary numbers to amend the Constitution.

Enshrining the independence of prosecutors in the Constitution was born out of the experience of perverted Fascist justice during the Mussolini regime. 

Today we see the effects of political control over criminal prosecutions playing out in the US justice system.

Prime Minister Meloni: magistrates are left-wing

In the past month many government ministers - including Giorgia Meloni and Attorney General Carlo Nordio - have criticised what they say are politically (i.e. left wing) biased magistrates. 

Nonetheless, appointment to the Italian judiciary is based purely on merit, depending on the results obtained in a competitive examination open to law graduates.

The parliament will vote on the legislation some time after late October. The government needs not only to pass the legislation but to get a two-thirds majority on both chambers to avoid a referendum on the Constitutional changes. 

It did not get near that level in a vote last July in the Senate, with only 106 votes out of a total of 205 members (178 voted). 

If the changes proceed to a referendum the campaign could get heated. 

One minister recently referred to magistrates as "killers", and claimed the press was biased.

On the other hand, the National Association of Magistrates has never stepped back from engaging in fierce public debate to protect the independence of magistrates and prosecutors. 

We could see a repeat of the judges' strike that took place in February this year.

It's back to the 1970s

In Italy, the '70s are are never far away.

It was a period called "the years of lead", referring to shootings, bombings and kidnappings conducted by both left and right wing extremists. 

Many criminal cases remain open. For example, last year a former member of the Italian Red Brigade was arrested in Argentina after 40 years on the run and has been charged with a 1977 kidnapping.

Now an investigation into the 1978 murder of two young men shot dead in the streets of Milan has been re-opened. The two men were part of a workers' collective that had occupied a disused factory, and turned it into a social centre called Leoncavallo, the name of the famous opera composer and the street on which it is located. 

Leoncavallo: embarassment for Matteo Salvini 

The murder investigation was reopened in May 2025, with many of the same people suspected at the time - criminal gang members and neofascists - being targeted again. It's quite possible that new forensic evidence has been found.

Coincidentally, Leoncavallo was forcibly closed by the Italian government last month because the 50-year old institution was squatting on property without paying rent. 

The centre was established by a workers' collective in what was then a run-down precinct near the Fiat factory. In supporting the closure, Prime Minister Meloni said that the centre represented a danger to security and that citizens must respect the law, including property law. 

On the other hand, the Mayor of Milan expressed his dismay at the closure and praised the Centre's contribution to the social and political life of Milan.

Caught in an embarrassing situation is Matteo Salvini, leader of a right wing party in the coalition government.  

He praised the eviction of the occupiers, saying that it meant that the law was now equal for all. 

Thirty years earlier, Salvini, already an enthusiastic right-winger, told the Milan council that the centre was his favourite hangout, where he could always find conversation and drink a beer and never felt at risk.

Silvana