President Meloni’s speech at the unveiling ceremony for the white Fiat Croma in which Giovanni Falcone and Francesca Morvillo were killed

Good evening, everyone, and thank you for the invitation to this ceremony.

I wish to thank Professor Falcone and President [of the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Committee] Colosimo. I obviously also wish to greet all the authorities present, President [of the Sicilian Region] Schifani and Mayor [of Palermo] Lagalla. I send a hug to Lucia Borsellino and I greet and thank all of you here.

As you can imagine, I’m rather used to public speaking. However, objectively speaking, even for a veteran like me, it isn’t easy to deliver a speech after watching, together with Professor Falcone, the unveiling of the remains of the white Fiat Croma that Giovanni Falcone, Francesca Morvillo and Giuseppe Costanza were travelling in on 23 May 1992.

Such sharp, penetrating emotions bring you face to face with history - history with a capital H: history made of flesh and blood, of facts that change the course of events and change a nation’s culture and path; in my case, as is the case for many of you I can see here, they also changed the course of our lives, of our choices.

34 years ago, Italy was suddenly forced to come to terms with a frightening reality which, until then, had been an evil that very many people had preferred to pretend not to see, to minimise and to underestimate; it may sound absurd for us as we talk about it today, but you couldn’t even say its name. That was the way it was in this wonderful region, and not only in this wonderful region. The Capaci bombing changed everything. From that moment on, no one could make any more excuses, or kid themselves this wasn’t an issue or that the problem had nothing to do with them, or pretend not to know anything, or even accept being an accomplice.

From that moment on, it was clear to everyone that Cosa Nostra was not something that had been made up, it was not some abstract thing, it was not a myth; it was real and was prepared to do anything to carry out its subversive, criminal plan, namely to assert that it was stronger than the State, could bend the institutions to its own sinister interests and had limitless power, and so no one could stand in its way.

Giovanni Falcone was one of the first public prosecutors to bring the mafia before the courts, which above all meant giving a name to that evil, putting it on trial and stating that it was possible to fight it. He did so without fear. He was not afraid to name names, he was not afraid to hold mafia members to account and he was not afraid to denounce the shroud of silence which, until then, had kept crimes and illicit dealings covered up, throwing in the public’s face truths that would otherwise have remained hidden.

It is therefore clear that, for Cosa Nostra, Judge Falcone deserved exemplary punishment – the most fierce and violent punishment, as it had to serve as a warning and send out a message: no one could challenge the mafia. In this case, however, Cosa Nostra made a huge error of judgement: that bombing, designed to intimidate the State and subvert the conscience of the Italian people, actually had the exact opposite effect, causing people to react. Thousands of citizens decided to stop looking the other way, giving rise to a new civic awareness – the awareness that fighting the mafia had become a shared responsibility and was no longer just a job for the public security forces. I can see many people in uniform here and I thank them, today and every day, for the work they do. It was not only the responsibility of public security forces and public prosecutors, whom we also thank for the work they continue to do with courage and dedication. That painful event fuelled a mobilisation that changed the Italian people’s relationship with the mafia forever, because Italians perfectly understood then that everyone had their own part to play in this battle.

On the afternoon of 23 May 1992, Giovanni Falcone and Francesca Morvillo were on their way home from Rome. They were heading towards Palermo in a car they had picked up in Punta Raisi, where they’d landed – the same journey we took today and a journey they had done so many times before together with their protection officers: Antonio, Vito, Rocco and Giuseppe. We know how the story ends – with an explosion near the Capaci exit, a collapsed motorway, destroyed guardrails and cars ripped open; everything covered in rubble. Images we know very well. This Fiat Croma is the last place where Giovanni Falcone and Francesca Morvillo were together. He was driving and, as always, she was by his side.

They were here together for the last time and I like to think that, despite being aware of the risk they were taking, they were nevertheless doing what we probably did just now arriving here by car: talking, perhaps joking around, maybe thinking about what they would do later, what they would do tomorrow; normal things, the same old habits. Giovanni Falcone and Francesca Morvillo may be heroes for us today, but they were normal people. They behaved like normal people, not like heroes, not like idols. They didn’t want to be anything other than what they were: decent people who knew the difference between right and wrong and who did their part as best they could. This is the most extraordinary lesson they left us. Heroes are not people with superpowers; much more simply, heroes are people like them who, when the time came for them to make a choice – and, ladies and gentlemen, in life that time comes for everyone; for many people, it comes along more than once – they knew which side they were on and which was the right path to take. They chose the right path, not the one that seemed the easiest.

So, I think this is the lesson we must take away with us – the lesson that these men and women left us.

It is not only those with great power who can lead great enterprises. Tolkien wrote that it is small hands that change the world, and he was right: it is the small everyday choices and the small everyday actions that make the difference, continuously marking the boundary between good and evil, between right and wrong. Great history stems from such simple actions: it is made of the bravery of Giuseppe Costanza, who is a living testament to what it means to put oneself at the service of others and risk everything to protect them; it is made of the tenacity of Tina Montinaro – whom I can see here and also send a hug to – thanks to whom the brown Fiat Croma her husband Antonio was travelling in together with Vito Schifani and Rocco Dicilio is continuing its journey and has become a symbol of love; it is made of the strength of Maria Falcone who, with the Museo del Presente [Museum of the Present], has created a place that has become a sanctuary of culture and legality here in Palermo, where art, design and photographs transform memories into a driving force to change the present. 

As the museum’s president, whom I thank, was saying, remembrance means keeping the fire burning, not worshipping the ashes. I completely agree. There is therefore no reason to thank me or the other institutions that have contributed to this initiative – the mayor, of course, but also the regional authorities, as President Schifani highlighted – because all we are doing is our duty. 

In a few days’ time, it will be the anniversary of the Via D’Amelio bombing. First Giovanni Falcone and then, 57 days later, Paolo Borsellino. Two men, two friends: as we have seen and can see so well in this photograph, they were two people whose lives were linked also by their terrible fate. Two men who experienced loneliness and isolation, sometimes even fuelled by those who should have helped and supported them. However, as the recent investigations carried out by the Caltanissetta Public Prosecutor’s Office have also shown, coming to light also as a result of the work by the Anti-Mafia Committee – and I wish to thank everyone for this – those who plotted in the shadows have been defeated.

Today, it is Falcone and Borsellino’s legacy that is speaking out (well, shouting, actually), tearing away that blanket of silence and hypocrisy that accompanied their story for too long.

Giovanni and Paolo’s baton has not been dropped; it is safe in the hands of the institutions, representing a daily pledge which I believe must be honoured with actions. I am saying this on a special day, on which I would like to thank the District Anti-Mafia Directorate and Public Prosecutor De Lucia for yet another important victory alongside public security forces against organised crime.

As I was saying, this pledge must be honoured with actions, by defending and strengthening the anti-mafia legislation which is named after these heroes and has become a model internationally, as I have seen for myself; by preventing even a single boss from getting out of the ‘Article 41-bis’ hard prison regime if the necessary conditions are not met; by developing legislation that saves children from being condemned to grow up as mafia members just because of their parents; by ensuring that no witnesses are left alone; by all working together to make sure Italy does not take a single step backwards in fighting the mafia, pursuing criminals and fugitives and giving assets confiscated from criminals back to the public; and by shedding further light on the dark chapters of those terrible years in our history.

The Italian people have a right to know the truth, and we must support all efforts to uncover it. We owe it to ourselves, certainly, but we owe it above all to them. To Giovanni, to Paolo, to Francesca, to Antonio, to Vito, to Rocco, to Emanuela and to all the heroes killed by the mafia – men and women who have taught us that it is of course only human to be afraid, but that when you’re fighting to defend what you believe in, courage can be much stronger than fear.

Their sacrifice kindled a flame, a flame of hope, justice and love for Italy that is still burning today and drives our daily efforts. We will continue to do our part with the same commitment we have strived to show until now, in order to be worthy of them and, together, to be worthy of this wonderful nation.

My sincere thanks to all of you for this moving experience.

[Courtesy translation]

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President Meloni in Palermo

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