But is that gentleman in the blue loden coat walking arm in arm with his wife, like hundreds of other couples, Ciampi? Yes, it is him. It is November 2, 2002, Saturday, no one knows but the President is in Livorno. He came to bring a bouquet of flowers to the grave of his brother Giuseppe, at the Misericordia cemetery. He is noticed at noon, on Viale Italia. He had himself dropped off at Terrazza Mascagni and arrived at Piazza San Jacopo walking with Mrs. Franca.
It is one of the many visits that Carlo Azeglio Ciampi makes to his Livorno during his seven-year term. It is here that on June 23, 1999, a month after his election, he chooses to open what he will call “the journey in Italy,” welcomed by a crowd during the walk from the prefecture to the town hall before meeting the former Cmf workers, and it is here that on May 3 and 4, 2006, less than two weeks before the end of his mandate, he concludes it, first visiting the Azimut Benetti shipyards and the evolution of Porta a Mare – of which he has repeatedly called himself the father, telling on that occasion that he has «great confidence in this project that saw the conversion of the shipyard, which aims to give the port also a tourist dimension in the Medici part», topics very relevant today – , then meeting three thousand students in Piazza del Municipio, who wave tricolor flags and chanting his name, shout to him «don’t leave us».
«I will remain one of you», Ciampi replies almost apologizing for not being able to fulfill the prayer of much of Italy to stay at the Quirinale, while he makes his way around the square shaking hands and prepares in a crowded council chamber to give the most Livornese of his Livornese speeches: «Dear fellow citizens, we have the reputation of being impulsive, certainly not letting prejudices prevail over the heart. On the contrary, the heart, we know, is our strength. And when the heart joins the head, here we have Livornese people capable of building and making Livorno the city it is, positive, open, generous. I have always been and always will be one of you, characterized by that straightforwardness and concreteness in facing life’s events that have made our character proverbial. With its frank and generous spirit that distinguishes it, Livorno has a future full of opportunities ahead. Always set new goals, believing in what you do, showing tenacity and determination in achieving them. Putting your soul into it. And the Livornese do not lack soul».
That hectic two-day period for Italian politics, ending with the return by plane to Rome and the official announcement of his unavailability to renew the mandate, was also the day when all those pleasant rituals to which the president had accustomed the city were broken for the first time, from the walk on the seafront with his wife Franca to the visit to the family optical shop on Corso Amedeo, walking from Piazza Magenta to Via Ernesto Rossi, at walking time, the bodyguards forced to improbable slaloms, although prepared for this because when the president returned home he wanted to be treated like Mr. Ciampi.
The last visit, we said. If Roman politics in those early May days was in turmoil to designate the future occupant of the Quirinale, Ciampi could not give up the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of Livorno’s elevation to city status. And he came, not depriving himself at least of the habit of staying with the inseparable Franca at Via Bonamici, number 14, guest of Tamara, the widow of his brother Giuseppe. She, as always, gives the couple the double room going to sleep in the small room. In the morning she prepares Carlo Azeglio macchiato coffee, toasted bread, and honey. «Poor Carlo – she said at the end of that last visit – it was two days of hell. Early in the morning calls started arriving from Rome. This time he did not have time to enjoy his city».
There were nine visits in total by Ciampi. For institutional reasons, but also very private ones, like April 7, 2001, the 90th birthday of Aunt Milla Oprandi Ciampi, when he showed up by surprise at the big lunch with 150 guests organized at La Barcarola, a place dear to the President, like its patron, Beppino Mancini, who in 2005, for Ciampi’s 85th birthday, went to cook cacciucco for him directly at the Quirinale. Each visit a surprise: like January 24, 2004. Ciampi walks on the seafront, where thousands of people wait to greet him, visits the aquarium under renovation, in the evening he christens the renewed Goldoni theater, where he breaks protocol and speaks after crossing the entire audience alongside Mayor Lamberti – very close to the President – amid thunderous applause. «How could I not speak in my beloved Livorno?». Then he invites the theater to sing the Italian anthem that precedes an emotional Cavalleria Rusticana. «It is not only the anthem of republican Italy – he says -. It is the anthem of our Risorgimento».
A few months later he is at the stadium, for Livorno’s return to Serie A after more than half a century. Ciampi cheers, stands up and waves his arms at Protti’s goal, shakes his head and gets annoyed when Chievo scores the equalizer and then the winning goal. «We will make up for it», he says leaving the stadium. And to change, he does not miss the prediction, because that year his Livorno will finish 8th in an unforgettable season.
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