Before being D’Alema and Mussi, before the congresses, the factions, the turning points and the splits, they were two long-haired boys, brilliant students, who met on the steps of the Normale. It was November 1967 and around them the Pisan ’68 was about to explode, while the PCI was still a political home from which neither of them imagined leaving. Since then their paths have crossed almost sixty years of Italian history: sometimes parallel, sometimes divergent, never truly strangers. There was power and opposition, shared battles and lost ones, endless discussions and Latin phrases thrown like thrusts between old friends. Then, when politics stopped dividing them, life did. Today D’Alema returns with memory to that boy met on the steps and to a season he simply defines as: «They were extraordinary years».
When did you meet Mussi?
«It was November 1967. I met him the first day, on the steps of the Normale. He was a boy with bangs and rather long hair. Mine was also quite long, but curly. We were the only two PCI members at the Normale. There was a strong presence of the left, but the Catholic one prevailed. The student representative was Riccardo Di Donato, a member of Intesa. We were a rarity and it was the librarian, also a communist, named Balboni, who introduced us».
And how did your first day together in Pisa go, immediately bent over the books?
«Oh no, it was a turbulent start, let’s say. The first evening we went straight to a demonstration. We left the suitcase at the porter’s lodge and went down from the Student House towards the canteen for a demonstration against the fascists, who had organized a support event for the Greek colonels with Pino Rauti. It was quite a heated protest (chuckles, ed)».
Mussi spoke of you as “twin brothers”. How much did you carry with you from that first season?
«We lived together all those years. Together we became officials of the Communist Party: he was responsible for propaganda, I for the cultural sector. Those were our first party assignments. Then he went to Rome quite early, but we continued to intertwine our lives: he was co-editor of Rinascita, I was secretary of the FGCI. Then I was regional secretary in Puglia and he in Calabria and we kept meeting».
You also went through very strong moments of political dissent. Did you ever really argue?
«No, we had many different moments in political life, but we never argued».
Mussi belonged to the generation of leaders linked to Berlinguer. What role do you think he had in that season?
«He was one of those called the “Berlinguerian colonels”, both for personal reasons and political choice. Then he had an important role on several issues. In particular, together with Bassolino, he opened the environmentalist front in the party. At the Florence congress in 1986 he presented the document against nuclear power. They won and I voted against (he says laughing, ed). I was skeptical. Fabio, on the other hand, fought an important battle on this, as well as on environmental protection».
Also at a decisive moment in your career it was Mussi who pushed you towards Palazzo Chigi?
«He was the group leader in the Chamber and he was the one who came up with the idea of having me take that position. I wasn’t so enthusiastic. He and Veltroni came and told me: “We discussed here, you have to form the government.” Then there were other moments of dissent».
When the Manifesto group decided to leave, for you, we imagine, it was not easy to decide what to do: in the PCI you were considered the closest to them. Did you discuss it in those days?
«We were very close to the comrades of the Manifesto. When we decided not to leave the party, we talked a lot. I remember we went to Monte Serra on Fabio’s motorcycle, a Moto Guzzi Lodola, which was our only means of transport and which we also used to go to demonstrations. He was very good on the saddle, I was a bit scared. On that occasion Fabio brought out that quote: “Extra ecclesiam nulla salus”, outside the Church there is no salvation».
That phrase is known because you said it to him when Mussi decided not to join the Democratic Party.
«Yes, but he was the first to use it. Politically I brought it up again. I said to him: “Fabio, you don’t remember…” and I used it to try to convince him. It didn’t work, but maybe he wasn’t entirely wrong about the fragility of that project».
Quotes often return in your relationship.
«Fabio had a great passion for quotes. When he went with Veltroni he said to me: “Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas”. I didn’t take it well, but I thank him for comparing me to Plato, but I doubted that on the other side there was the Truth (he says laughing, ed).
That was one of the occasions when your political path split. In recent years, however, have you seen each other again?
«Unfortunately in recent years we have been apart, and I say it with regret and also with a bit of guilt. But not for political reasons, for life reasons. Fabio withdrew because of illness and we have spoken little».
When did you last see each other?
«When Achille Occhetto’s birthday was. We met on that occasion. Then we spoke a little while ago, in June: Fabio had sent me the book written by his wife about his family in Piombino, which recalls the working-class Piombino of the forties and fifties. I sent him a comment, for Luana, in June».
D’Alema stops. He is silent for a few seconds. And then decides to conclude the interview. «It is a great sorrow, on Saturday, September 5 I will be in Piombino to say goodbye to him».
