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Mani pulite (Italian for clean hands) was a nationwide Italian judicial investigation into political corruption held in the 1990s. Mani pulite led to the demise of the so-called First Republic, resulting in the disappearance of many parties. Some politicians and industry leaders committed suicide after their crimes were exposed. The corruption system that was uncovered by these investigations was usually referred to as Tangentopoli, or "bribesville".

Mario Chiesa, the "villain"[link]

Tangentopoli began on 17 February 1992 when judge Antonio Di Pietro had Mario Chiesa, a member of the Italian Socialist Party, arrested for accepting a bribe from a Milan cleaning firm. The PSI distanced themselves from Chiesa. Bettino Craxi called Mario Chiesa mariuolo, or "villain", a "wild splinter" of the otherwise clean Italian Socialist Party. Upset over this treatment by his former colleagues, Chiesa began to give information about corruption implicating his colleagues. It was the start of the Mani pulite (clean hands) investigation. News of political corruption began spreading in the press.

Extension of anti-corruption investigations[link]

In the 1992 elections, the Christian Democracy (DC) party lost many votes, but its coalition prior to the elections managed to keep a small majority, while opposition parties gained votes. However the largest opposition party Italian Communist Party split after the fall of the Soviet Union and there was no opposition leadership. Many votes went to Lega Nord, a party that was not inclined to alliances at the time. The resulting parliament was therefore weak and difficult to bring to an agreement, and new elections arrived as soon as 1994.

During April 1992, many industrial figures and politicians, especially from the majority parties but also from the opposition, were arrested on charges of corruption. While the investigations started in Milan, they quickly spread from town to town, as more and more politicians confessed. A grotesque situation occurred when a Socialist politician immediately confessed all his crimes to two Carabinieri who had come to his house, only to later discover they had come to deliver a mere traffic violation fine.

Fundamental to this exponential expansion was the general attitude of the main politicians to drop support for minor politicians who got caught; this made many of them feel betrayed, and they often implicated many other politicians, who in turn would implicate even more.

On 2 September 1992, the socialist politician Sergio Moroni, charged with corruption, committed suicide. He left a letter pleading guilty, declaring that crimes were not for his personal gain but for the party's benefit, and accused the financing system of all parties. His daughter, Chiara Moroni, is today a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies in Silvio Berlusconi's party Forza Italia.

Effect on national politics[link]

In the local December elections, DC lost half of their votes. The day after that, Bettino Craxi, leader of the Italian Socialist Party, was officially accused of corruption. After many other politicians were accused and jailed, Craxi eventually resigned.

On 5 March 1993, the Italian government of Giuliano Amato and his justice minister Giovanni Conso tried to find a solution with a decree, which allowed criminal charges for several bribery-related crimes to be replaced by administrative charges instead; according to Italian popular opinion at the time, that would have resulted in a de facto amnesty for most corruption charges. Amid public outrage and nationwide rallies, the Italian president of the Republic Oscar Luigi Scalfaro refused to sign the decree, deeming it unconstitutional. The following week, a US$250 million affair involving Eni, the government-controlled national energy company, was revealed. The stream of accusation, jailing and confessions continued.

On 25 March 1993, the Italian parliament changed the municipal electoral law in favor of a majoritarian system. Later, on 18 April, the public overwhelmingly backed the abrogation of the existing proportional representation parliamentary electoral law in a referendum (a mixed system was introduced that August), causing Amato to resign three days later. Still shocked by the recent events, the Parliament was unable to produce a new government. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, former governor of the national bank, was appointed head of the government and appointed a technical government without political influences. In the meantime, the investigation of Craxi was blocked by the parliament. Several members of the government, having been in office just three days, resigned in protest; among them were Francesco Rutelli, Minister of the Environment and Vincenzo Visco, Minister of Finance. In new local elections on 6 June 1993, DC lost half of its votes once again; the Socialist Party virtually disappeared. Instead Lega Nord, a protest movement with some ideological elements ranging from xenophobia and racism^{[citation needed]} to independence from the rest of Italy and a general loathing of the political system, became the strongest political force in Northern Italy. The left-wing opposition was approaching majority, but still lacked unity and leadership.

Eventually, all four parties in government in 1992 disappeared, at different times in different ways: the Christian Democracy, the Italian Socialist Party, the Italian Socialist Democratic Party, and the Italian Liberal Party. The Democratic Party of the Left, the Italian Republican Party and the Movimento Sociale Italiano were the only surviving national parties; the Republican party is the only one that has maintained its name since.

The Cusani trial[link]

On 20 July 1993, the former Eni president, Gabriele Cagliari, committed suicide in jail. His wife later gave back $3 million of illegal funds.

Meanwhile, the trial of Sergio Cusani began. Mr. Cusani was accused of crimes connected to a joint venture between Eni and Montedison, named Enimont. It was broadcast on national television, and was a sort of showcase of the old politics being brought to their responsibilities. While Cusani himself was not a major figure, the connection of his crimes to the Enimont affair called in all the nation's major politicians as witnesses.

A high note was reached in the Cusani trial when former head of government Arnaldo Forlani, answering a question, simply said "I don't remember"; he also happened to be very nervous and did not notice that sweat was accumulating on his lips, and that image was by many considered symbolic of the people's disgust for the corruption system. Bettino Craxi, instead, admitted that his party received $93 million of illegal funds. His defense was that "everyone was doing this" anyway.

Even the Lega Nord was brought in the trial; secretary Umberto Bossi and former treasurer Alessandro Patelli were convicted for receiving 200 million lire of illegal funding (approx. $100,000 at the time).

A bribe to the Italian Communist Party was alleged, but it was not established who had committed the offence. A number of Milanese members of the Democratic Party of the Left were charged with corruption during their time as members of the PCI but they were acquitted. As prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro stated, "Penal responsibility is personal. I cannot bring here a person with first name Communist and last name Party".

The Enimont trial itself was carried out after the Cusani trial, with much less public interest.

Investigations on other fronts[link]

In the meantime, the investigation expanded outside the political range: on 2 September 1993 the Milan judge Diego Curtò was arrested. On 21 April 1994, 80 financial policemen and 300 industry personalities were charged with corruption. A few days later, the secretary of the large Fiat corporation admitted corruption with a letter to a newspaper.

In 1994, Silvio Berlusconi entered politics by storm and won the elections. Many think that this move was to preserve his many industries from possible corruption charges. This suspicion was reinforced on 11 February, when Silvio Berlusconi's brother, Paolo, admitted to corruption crimes. On 13 July 1994, the Berlusconi government made a new law to avoid jail time for most corruption crimes.

The law was carefully timed as Italy had defeated Bulgaria in the 1994 Football World Cup's semifinals, and it is likely that the government expected to exploit an eventual victory to pass the law under silence in a football-crazy country. However, as Roberto Baggio shot high the last penalty against Brazil, and the news was showing images of hated, corrupt politicians getting out of jail, the public opinion became enraged; the images of Francesco De Lorenzo, former minister of Health, were especially striking, since the general public perceived stealing money from hospitals an especially hateful act.

Just a few days before, the arrested policemen had been talking about corruption in the Fininvest media industry, the biggest Berlusconi family property. Most of the Mani pulite investigation pool declared that they would respect the state's laws, but they could not work in a situation where duty and conscience were to conflict: they requested therefore to be reassigned to other duties.

Since the government could not afford to be seen as an adversary of the popular judge pool, the decree was hastily revoked and marked a "misunderstanding"; minister for internal affairs Roberto Maroni from Lega Nord maintained that he had not even had the occasion of reading it. While the minister of Justice was Alfredo Biondi, allegations that Cesare Previti, a lawyer from Berlusconi's company Fininvest, had written it, are at least credible.

On 28 July Berlusconi's brother was again arrested and immediately released.

Escalating conflict between Silvio Berlusconi and Antonio Di Pietro[link]

What began then is what has been described by many as the "Berlusconi-Di Pietro battle". While Berlusconi's industries were being investigated, "inspectors" were sent from the government to the Milanese judges' office to look for formal irregularities. No irregularity were ever found, but this tactic, coupled with Berlusconi's firm grip on the information system, helped spread what is described in other environments as FUD. The battle ended without winners: on 6 December Di Pietro resigned. Two weeks later, the Berlusconi government resigned before a critical confidence vote in the Parliament, which was clearly going to be in Berlusconi's disfavour.

During 1995, many investigations were started against Antonio Di Pietro, who was years later cleared of all charges, while Silvio Berlusconi incurred other charges of corruption. It was later found that the main prosecutor of Antonio Di Pietro in these times, Fabio Salamone from Brescia, was the brother of a man that Antonio Di Pietro himself had prosecuted, and who was sentenced to 18 months of jail for various corruption charges. It took however some time before the authorities realized this and ordered Salamone to other duties even though his investigations had taken a completely different direction: Paolo Berlusconi (Silvio's brother) and Cesare Previti (former minister) were accused of a conspiracy against Di Pietro but the prosecutor who later replaced Salamone asked for their acquittance and so did the court.

After being cleared, Antonio Di Pietro started a political career, a thing he had previously excluded on the grounds that he did not want to exploit the popularity gained doing what he perceived to be just his duty. His movement is named Italia dei Valori ("Italy of values").

In 1998, Cesare Previti, former manager of Fininvest and then sitting in parliament after the Berlusconi government, avoided jailing thanks to parliament intervention, even though Berlusconi and his allies were in the opposition. Bettino Craxi accumulated several years of jailing in definitive convictions and had to escape to Tunisia, where he remained until his death on 19 January 2000.

Statutory term strategy[link]

After 1994, the danger of trials being cancelled due to the expiration of statutory terms was becoming very real. This was clear to the judges and to the politicians, and the latter ones (with no distinction between Berlusconi's coalition and the Olive Tree, especially under the leadership of Massimo D'Alema) either ignored the pleas of the judiciary system for more funding to buy equipment, or passed laws that made the painstakingly slow Italian trials even slower and subject to earlier prescription.

Furthermore, the intricate nature of Italian laws allowed cunning lawyers to use many delaying tactics: an instructive example was a prosecution of Silvio Berlusconi, where he was accused of misappropriation of funds of his own company, Fininvest, in order to prepare black funds that could have been used for bribes or other illegitimate purposes; on the last possible day, a lawyer from Fininvest appeared in court and complained that his company had not been formally notified of the trial. While this trial was well publicized in the media (and also in Fininvest's media themselves), the formality forced the trial to be restarted from scratch, and Berlusconi was finally acquitted by expiration of statutory terms. Being acquitted in this first trial, he could later benefit from a general reduction of terms for other trials, which in turn expired earlier with a domino effect.

After Silvio Berlusconi's victory in 2001, the gradual campaign against judges reached the point where it is not only openly acceptable to criticize judges for having carried out Mani pulite, but it has become increasingly difficult to broadcast opinions favorable to Milan's pool. This is an impressive 180° cultural turn from 1992, when no politician was believed and no judge was contested, in which the Berlusconi's power in media has undoubtedly played an important role. Even Umberto Bossi, whose Lega Nord once made a statement bringing and showing a hanging rope in a parliamentary session, has become highly critical of judges, even though there are still occasional frictions between Lega Nord and former Christian Democrat or Socialist allies in Berlusconi's coalition.

In Modern Culture[link]

Prior to the investigation, an artist named Gianni Motti created a piece of artwork, named "mani pulite" based on the scandal. "Mani pulite" (clean hands) was claimed to have been created out of the fat from Silvio Berlusconi's liposuction.

See also[link]

• History of Italy as a Republic
• Antonio Di Pietro
• Bettino Craxi

External links[link]

• (Italian) Tangentopoli e il crollo dei partiti
• (Italian) Mani Pulite
• (Italian) [1]

Fabri Fibra
Background information
Birth name	Fabrizio Tarducci
Born	(1976-10-17) October 17, 1976 (age 35)
Origin	Senigallia, Marche, Italy
Genres	Hip hop, pop rap
Years active	1996–present
Website	http://www.fabrifibra.it

Fabri Fibra (born Fabrizio Tarducci on 17 October 1976) is an Italian rapper.

Biography[link]

Tarducci was born in Senigallia, Marche. He became interested in music from a young age; he wrote and performed his first piece when he was 17 years old.

In 1995 he recorded his first demo. He created the tandem Uomini di Mare with DJ Lato, beatmaker and deejay, and in 1996 they produced the underground CD Dei del mare quest'el gruv. In 1999 Fabri and Lato produced and distributed the LP Sindrome di fine millennio ("End of the Millennium Syndrome"), with collaborations from El Presidente (also known as Esa), Inoki, Joe Cassano and his brother Nesli.

Following his underground success, Fabri Fibra began performing around Italy. In 2000 he established his label and group Teste Mobili Records (Bobbing Head Records), and collaborated with various Italian rap groups, lending vocals as well as lyrics to the mixtape circuit.

Solo career[link]

[edit] Turbe Giovanili (2002)

In 2002 Fabri released his first solo album, titled Turbe giovanili (Juvenile Troubles), for which he wrote and recorded his lyrics under the production and arrangement of Neffa. A year later Fabri distributed Lato e Fabri Fibra which brought a close to the partnership with Lato and the Uomini di mare project with aky il grande.

Nesli's Home and Fabri Fibra's Mr. Simpatia were released simultaneously on 1 September 2004.

[edit] Mr. Simpatia (2004)

Released in 2004, Mr. Simpatia (Mr. Sympathy) is Fibra's second solo album. All the instrumental bases were made by his younger brother, the rapper Nesli Rice, with the exceptions of "Non Ti Invidio" ("I Don't Envy You") (made by Bassi Maestro) and the album's bonus track (by Bosca).

The album cover shows Fibra's head lying on its side with a gruesome injury. Mr. Simpatia is an ironic title; the tracks' main themes are the Italian hip hop scene, contempt for society, relationships with girls, and Fibra's frustration about his job.

[edit] Tradimento (2006)

Fabri Fibra Live in Florence, in 2006

Fabri Fibra Live in Udine, in 2006

After splitting from his recording company contract at Vibrarecords, Fabri went underground and went unheard from for a year, until he resurfaced with a new deal at major recording company Universal Music Italia. Under the production of Fish and brother Nesli Fabri created his most commercially and artistically successful album, Tradimento ("Betrayal"). His first single, released in Europe 4 April 2006, was "Applausi per Fibra" ("Applause for Fibra"). The single discussed Fibra's personal and life experiences overcome by Fabri himself, with a certain emphasis on self-praise.

Only a week after the official launch (6 June 2006) the album reached the number one spot in album sales. However it was criticized^[who?] for its use of expletives, indifference in its presentation of provocative themes, and its misogynist views of women, all of which were found across the album.

Following the success of "Applausi per Fibra", the second, more urban-themed single, "Su le mani" ("On Your Hands"), was released. This was followed by the release of "Mal di stomaco" ("Stomachache"), which gained instant infamy, most notably for the originality of its music video (a fabricated broadcast of SKY TG24 - a Satellite news station) that reports on the death of Fabri Fibra in a car accident. The authenticity is sealed with "live coverage" reports, interviews from famous stars such as Fernanda Lessa, Eva Henger, Jimmy Ghione, producer Fish, rapper Vacca and brother Nesli. The video ends with Fabri's body disappearing from the morgue.

The last single is "Idee stupide" ("Stupid Ideas"), with a black and white video which, whilst not as original as the former video, uses a Rocky-style montage that compliments Fabri's underdog lyrics.

In 2010, Tradimento came second in a newspaper poll, making it the second most important album of the decade in Italy^{[citation needed]}. Tradimento is the biggest selling album in Italian music history.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Bugiardo (2008)

Fabri Fibra and Vacca during a live show in 2008

Fabri Fibra's next album, Bugiardo (Liar), came out on 9 November 2007, after the release of the street-single "Questo è il nuovo singolo" ("This is the new single"). The first official single, "Bugiardo", came out on 15 October 2007 and the second official single being "La Soluzione" ("The Solution"), which came out on 9 November 2007. On 25 April 2008, Fibra released the single “In Italia” featuring singer Gianna Nannini. The song became a massive summer hit, being the most watched music video in Italy of 2008^{[citation needed]} and earning a nomination at the MTV Europe Music Awards for Best Italian Act.

[edit] Chi Vuole Essere Fabri Fibra? (2009)

On 10 April 2009, Fibra released his fifth album, entitled Chi Vuole Essere Fabri Fibra? (Who Wants To Be Fabri Fibra?) He released two songs from the album, entitled "Incomprensioni" ("Incomprehension") (featuring Federico Zampaglione) and "Speak English", which discusses the cultural differences between Italy and England; the video for "Speak English" was shot in Brighton, where Fibra lived and worked for four years. A track off the album, entitled "Donna Famosa" ("Famous Woman"), is featured in the soundtrack of the FIFA 10 football video game.

[edit] Controcultura (2010)

Fabri Fibra in Cesena (2010)

Fabri Fibra in Rimini (2011)

From 18 February 2010, MTV Italia broadcast a program on Thursday nights entitled Fabri Fibra: Italy. The program was defined as a docu-drama, and included five episodes showing the lives of young people living in socially disadvantaged situations. On 4 May 2010, Fibra released a remastered album of Turbe giovanilili, entituled Turbe giovanili Remaster. On 20 July 2010, Fibra also released his first web-album, entitled Quorum, which is available in his website.

The album Controcultura (Counterculture) was released on 7 September 2010 and reached #1 in the Italian albums chart. The album has so far spawned three singles named "Vip In Trip", "Tranne Te" ("Except for You") (both peaking at #2 in the Italian singles chart), "Qualcuno Normale" ("Somebody Normal") featuring the artist Marracash and "Le Donne" ("The Women"). Fibra said that "Le Donne" music was a response to the bales of misogyny that he had to face for years, mainly because of "Mrs. Simpatia".

On 1 March 2011, Fibra released the "Tranne Te: Rap Futuristico EP", a extended-play which had remixes of Tranne Te with other artists, like Redman, the French rapper Soprano and old friends from Fibra like Marracash and Dargen D'Amico. At the same month, Fibra released a online mixtape named "Venerdì 17" ("Friday 17"), available to download for free on his website. It contains many freestyles and remixes of some of his earlier work including many remixes of some of his more recent work.

The year of 2011 was also remarkable for Fibra, which he has won four consecutives awards: the platinum disc for "Controcultura", a multiplatinum disc for "Tranne Te", a "Superman" award from the TRL Awards 2011 and a "Wind Music" award.

In the Summer of 2011 Fibra launched his own record label named "Tempi Duri Records" (Hard Times Records). Young rappers Entics and Clementino have been signed to the label.

[edit] Rapstar-Non é gratis (2012)

Fabri Fibra met Clementino in the summer of 2011 at his Controcultura Tour in Naples, and immediately they began to record together. The initial idea, as stated by Clementino in an interview, was simply to make a mixtape. Subsequently, however, both changed their minds and decided to produce a whole album under the name of Rapstar. On January 9, 2012 out double single: Ci rimani male/Chimica Brother, single opening of Non é gratis, debut album of the band, released on January 31, 2012.^[1]

Discography[link]

With Uomoni di Mare[link]

• 1996 - Del mare quest'el gruv
• 1999 - Sindrome di fine millenio

Solo career[link]

• 2002 - Turbe giovanili
• 2004 - Mr. Simpatia
• 2005 - Mr. Simpatia (Live)
• 2005 - Mr. Simpatia (Gold Edition)
• 2006 - Tradimento
• 2006 - Tradimento + Pensieri scomodi
• 2007 - Bugiardo
• 2009 - Chi vuole essere Fabri Fibra? (Gold)
• 2010 - Turbe giovanili Remaster
• 2010 - Quorum
• 2010 - Controcultura (Platinum)
• 2011 - Tranne Te: Rap Futuristico EP (EP)
• 2011 - Venerdì 17 (Mixtape)

With Rapstar[link]

• 2012 - Non é gratis

Singles[link]

Solo career[link]

• Applausi per Fibra (2006)
• Mal Di Stomaco (2006)
• Su Le Mani (2006)
• Idee Stupide (2006)
• Questo è Il Nuovo Singolo (Street Single) (2007)
• Bugiardo (2007)
• La soluzione (2008)
• In Italia featuring Gianna Nannini (2008)
• Incomprensioni featuring Federico Zampaglione (2009)
• Speak English (2009)
• Festa Festa featuring Crookers & Dargen D'Amico (2010)
• Vip in Trip (2010)
• Tranne Te (2010)
• Qualcuno Normale featuring Marracash (2011)
• Le Donne (2011)

With Rapstar[link]

• Ci rimani male/Chimica Brother (2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fabri Fibra

• Official website
• Fabri Fibra on Myspace
• Fabri Fibra's channel on YouTube

Marco Travaglio
Marco Travaglio in Trento, 2010.
Born	Marco Travaglio (1964-10-13) October 13, 1964 (age 47) Turin, Italy
Years active	1988 – present

Marco Travaglio (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmarko traˈvaʎʎo]; born 13 October 1964) is an Italian investigative journalist, writer and commentator.

Biography[link]

Travaglio was born in Turin and earned a degree in history from the University of Turin. In 1992 he began to pursue journalism as a career. He started out writing for Catholic publications such as Il nostro tempo ("Our time"), then worked under the renowned journalist Indro Montanelli for newspapers such as Il Giornale and La Voce and gained the attention of Montanelli himself who once used to say about him: "No, Travaglio does not kill anyone. With a knife. He uses a more refined and not legally punishable weapon: the archives"

Since 14 September 2006, Marco Travaglio has been a regular guest in the TV program AnnoZero, hosted by Michele Santoro (also mentioned by Berlusconi in the Bulgarian Edict).

Recently, Travaglio has contributed as a columnist to prominent national newspapers and magazines, such as La Repubblica, L'Unità (with his old columns "Bananas", "Uliwood Party" and "Zorro") and Micromega. He still contributes to L'espresso with the column "Signorno'". In September 2009 he contributed to the formation of the independent newspaper, called Il Fatto Quotidiano ("The Daily Fact").

Political and judicial events of national importance, ranging from Mani pulite to the troubles of controversial political figure Silvio Berlusconi, have been Travaglio's main area of interest.

The journalist became well known in 2001, after participating in a TV show on state-owned national channel Raidue called Satyricon and hosted by Daniele Luttazzi. There, He presented his brand-new book, and bestseller, L'odore dei soldi ("The Smell of Money", co-authored by Elio Veltri), which investigates the origin of Mr Berlusconi's early fortunes. Berlusconi started a lawsuit for slander, but since the book reports official facts already known by the judiciary authorities, he was condemned to pay the legal expenses.^[1]

The show, aired during the campaign for the Italian general election, was heavily criticized by Berlusconi and his party and labeled by them as a politically motivated, non-objective personal attack. After Mr Berlusconi's victory at the elections, both Travaglio and Luttazzi (together with other prominent journalists that had criticized Mr Berlusconi's or investigated his history) have never appeared again on state-owned TV shows until September 2006 (shortly after Berlusconi lost the elections and left power), causing a long debate about freedom of information and censorship in Italy.

Awards and Honors[link]

The National Association of German Journalists (DJV Deutscher Journalisten-Verband) honored Marco Travaglio in 2009 bestowing on him the award for "Press Freedom". The decision, taken by the seven members jury of the association, was accompanied by the following statement from Michael Konken, President of the association of german journalists. Konken stated: «We honour in Marco Travaglio a brave and talented colleague, fighting againsts many obstacles to defend freedom of speech and press in Italy». Other recipients of the Award in previous years include the journalist Miroslav Filipović and the Russian reporter Ol'ga Kitova. Filipović received the award for his articles on the atrocities committed against civilians in Kosovo by the Yugoslav Army, while Olga Kitova was honoured for her struggle in denouncing corruption in Russia.

Publications[link]

Books by Marco Travaglio (usually co-authored with other investigative journalists) include:

• Bravi ragazzi (Italian for Good fellas), published in 2003 and reporting on politicians Cesare Previti and Silvio Berlusconi's alleged (and later confirmed by court's sentence ^[2]) corruption of judges
• Lo chiamavano Impunità ("They Call Him Impunity", a humorous reference to the spaghetti western Lo chiamavano Trinità), published in 2003, about the SME-Ariosto inquiry and court trial
• Mani Sporche (Italian for "Dirty Hands") that reports about the years following the national scandal "Mani pulite" (Italian for "Clean Hands")
• Il Bavaglio ("The Gag") mostly about the Italian politicians' plans to limit freedom of speech and the investigative means of Italian Prosecutors investigating political corruption
• Per chi suona la banana ("For Whom the Banana Tolls"; the title is a pun on For Whom the Bell Tolls, with a reference on the banana republic)
• Italia Anno Zero, Chiarelettere, 2009, ISBN 978-88-6190-051-6 (coauthors: Beatrice Borromeo and Vauro Senesi)

On 10 May 2008, Marco Travaglio commented on Renato Schifani's election as president of the Senate that one should "simply ask of the second highest office of the state to explain those relationships with those men who have subsequently been condemned for association with the Mafia" on the RAI current affairs talk show television program Che tempo fa.^[3][4][5]

The statement of Travaglio resulted in fierce and almost universally negative reactions including from the centre left, except for Antonio Di Pietro who said that Travaglio was "merely doing his job". Some called for chief executives at RAI to be dismissed.

The popular political commentator Beppe Grillo supported Travaglio, while Schifani announced he would go to Court and sue Travaglio for slander.^[6] Schifani said Travaglio's accusation was based on "inconsistent or manipulated facts, not even worthy of generating suspicions", adding that "someone wants to undermine the dialogue between the government and the opposition."^[5] Mister Schifani himself enjoys immunity as leader of the parliament.

In 2009, the German Association of Journalists awarded Travaglio its yearly prize for Freedom of the Press, describing him as a "brave and critical colleague [...] exposing continually the attempts of Italian politicians, especially Silvio Berlusconi, to influence the media to their advantage and to negate critical reports."^[7]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Marco Travaglio

• Il fatto quotidiano Independent journal of which Travaglio is the vice director.
• Voglio scendere Blog by Travaglio and fellow journalists and authors Pino Corrias and Peter Gomez (Italian)
• L'Antefatto Official website of Travaglio's independent newspaper, Il Fatto Quotidiano (Italian)
• Unofficial Fan site featuring a column and some other contributions by Travaglio not published elsewhere (Italian)
• Interview with Marco Travaglio (Italian)
• La Repubblica newspaper: the controversial interview with Travaglio by Luttazzi (Italian)
• Signornò [1] L'Espresso-Opinioni (Italian)
• V-day 8 September 2007 Bologna Video (Italian)
• V2-day 25 April 2008 Turin Video (Italian)
• No CAV day 8 July 2008 Rome (Italian)

Vittorio Sgarbi

Vittorio Umberto Antonio Maria Sgarbi (born May 8, 1952 in Ferrara) is an Italian art critic, politician, cultural commentator and TV personality.

He was appointed curator of the Italian Pavilion at the 2011 Venice Biennale.^[1] Several times a member of the Italian Parliament and municipal governments like that of Milan, from June 30 2008 is the mayor of the Sicilian town of Salemi.

He has been condemned several times by various Italian courts for libel, malicious slander, absenteeism from workplace and production of false public documents.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• (Italian) Sciarrone, Rocco (1998). Mafie vecchie, mafie nuove: Radicamento ed espansione, Rome: Donzelli Editore ISBN 88-7989-435-8

External links[link]

• Official Website
• (Italian) Articles written on il Giornale

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2010)

Onorevole Antonio Di Pietro
Minister of Infrastructures
In office May 17, 2006 – May 8, 2008
Prime Minister	Romano Prodi
Deputy	Angelo Capodicasa
Preceded by	Pietro Lunardi
Succeeded by	Altero Matteoli
Minister of Public Works
In office May 17, 1996 – November 20, 1996
Prime Minister	Romano Prodi
Preceded by	Paolo Baratta
Succeeded by	Paolo Costa
Personal details
Born	(1950-10-02) October 2, 1950 (age 61) Montenero di Bisaccia, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Political party	Italia dei Valori
Profession	Politician Judge

Antonio Di Pietro (born October 2, 1950) is an Italian politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament, an Italian Senator, and Minister of the Prodi Government. He was a prosecutor in the team known in Italy as Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) in the early 1990s.

Prosecutor[link]

Born into a poor rural family from Montenero di Bisaccia (Molise), as a very young man Di Pietro would go to Germany to work in the morning in a factory and in the afternoon in a sawmill in order to pay for his studies. Back in Italy, he graduated from night school^[1] with a degree in law in 1978 and was admitted to serve as a police officer. After a few years, he started a judicial career as a prosecutor.^[2][3]

Mani Pulite[link]

In February 1991, Di Pietro began investigating Milan's politicians and business leaders for corruption and kickbacks.^[4] Together with other well-known magistrates such as Francesco Saverio Borrelli, Ilda Boccassini, Gherardo Colombo, and Piercamillo Davigo, he worked on the Mani Pulite ("Clean Hands") team, which investigated political corruption.^[5] As part of this team, he investigated hundreds of local and national politicians, all the way up to the most important national political figures, including Bettino Craxi.^[1] The Italian press named the investigation "Tangentopoli" ("Bribesville").^[6]

He soon became the most popular of the Mani Pulite judges, due to his peculiar way of speaking, with a number of dialectal inflections and expressions, coupled with a pronounced accent and a determined disposition.

When the Tangentopoli investigation focused on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Di Pietro became the focus of a slander campaign and strong political pressure, leading him to resign from the judiciary.^[4]

Use of technology[link]

Di Pietro was also known for being one of the first Italian prosecutors to use digital technologies in his work, using computers and visual presentations, which raised some protests (for example, by advocate Guido Spazzali).^{[citation needed]} Di Pietro soon became interested in information technology (IT), and used it actively in his work. Instead of taking classics—in Italy, the usual high-school education for lawyers—he had studied to become an electronics technician (though he has never taken a computer course).^[7] He still maintains an interest in IT, with his blog^[8] and YouTube conferences.

Once he uttered a famous sentence to describe his own behaviour: "As a bricklayer I tried to build my walls straight, as a policeman I tried to arrest criminals, and as a judge I tried to bring people to trial when there was good reason to do so."^{[citation needed]}

Minister[link]

After the Mani Pulite investigations resulted in the disbandment of the previous ruling parties (first of all, Democrazia Cristiana), Di Pietro was called into Romano Prodi's new governing team as minister for Public Works,^[4] with responsibility for the areas most affected by bribery—all the initiatives financed by the state. Here he tried to impose a controversial project which would have doubled the main national motorway between Bologna and Florence. It provoked violent opposition by inhabitants of the interested areas. Ecologists, who had supported Prodi's coalition, protested the plan, which would have destroyed Apennine valleys and woods.^{[citation needed]}

Romano Prodi had previously been the subject of an investigation run by Di Pietro, but the charges had been dropped before any trial.

Di Pietro came under investigation himself in 1997 for his activities both in the police and as a judge. It was later found that the main prosecutor handling Di Pietro's case, Fabio Salamone from Brescia, was the brother of a man that Di Pietro himself had prosecuted, and who had been sentenced to 18 months of jail for various corruption charges. Although it took some time for the authorities to realize this, Salamone was eventually allocated other duties and, after years of trials, Di Pietro was eventually cleared of all charges.

Political career[link]

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After being cleared, Di Pietro started a political career, something he had previously excluded on the grounds that he did not want to exploit the popularity he had gained while doing what he perceived to be just his duty. He was elected to the Italian Senate in a by-election caused by the resignation of a senator, and defeated right-wing journalist Giuliano Ferrara in the Mugello constituency, a left wing stronghold.

He later founded his own movement, Italia dei Valori (Italy of Values), making its main theme the fight against political corruption in Italy. As a protest against the growing tolerance of corruption in most Italian political parties, and the complacent attitude of left-wing politicians like Massimo D'Alema towards Berlusconi, he did not run alongside the left-wing coalition in the Italian general election of 2001, which was won by Silvio Berlusconi's coalition.

Di Pietro's movement collected just short of the nationwide four-percent limit necessary for entry to the Lower Chamber of the Parliament under proportional representation, and gained a single senator—who immediately defected to Berlusconi's party.

Running alongside the former leader of the Italian Communist Party and founder of the Democratic Party of the Left, Achille Occhetto, he received two seats in the European Elections of 2004. The other seat is currently taken by Giulietto Chiesa, a journalist.

Di Pietro was one of seven candidates for leader of the left-wing coalition The Union for the general election held on October 16, 2005—eventually won by Romano Prodi—in which he obtained 3.3 percent of the votes, ranking fourth.

On May 17, 2006 Di Pietro was appointed Minister of Infrastructures by Romano Prodi, as part of his new government.

He is a member of the Bureau of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs. He is also a substitute for the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and chairs the Delegation for relations with South Africa.

On January 30, 2006 he published a letter in the Italian newspaper L'Unità, in which he promised to work for a law that will prohibit anyone from being elected more than twice consecutively (although he has been an MP since 1996), and prohibiting anyone who has received a definitive sentence from becoming a candidate in elections.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2010, Di Pietro harshly criticized Berlusconi and the parliament for approving a controversial tax amnesty bill.^[9]

Vidcast[link]

In December 2006, Di Pietro started a vidcast on YouTube, a video sharing website. In the vidcast, issued weekly since January 2007, Di Pietro talks about the issues discussed in the weekly Government Cabinet.^[10] Other prominent politicians, such as Angela Merkel of Germany, had released one-off vidcasts, but this was perhaps the first time that a minister of a government in office had a regular vidcast.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Antonio Di Pietro

• 1978: Graduate in law
• 1978–1979: specialisation in administrative law
• 1980: qualification for court work
• 1981: magistrate
• 1996: Minister of Public Works in the 12th legislature
• 1997: Senator
• since 1998: Chairman of the 'Italia dei Valori' party
• since 1999: Member of the European Parliament
• 1999-2002: Chairman of the delegation for relations with South America and Mercosur
• 2002–2004: Chairman of the Delegation for relations with Central Asia—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Mongolia
• Honorary degree from the University of Thrace (Greece)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website of Antonio Di Pietro: www.antoniodipietro.it (Italian)
• Frasi celebri (unforgettable quotes) (Italian)
• Di Pietro's article on his campaign to abolish the government immunity law of Berlusconi
• European Parliament biography of Antonio Di Pietro (incl. Speeches, Questions and Motions)
• Video blog on YouTube of Antonio Di Pietro,updated weekly (Italian)

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