FLORENCE. The leader of Brothers of Italy in the Chamber, Galeazzo Bignami, has sued the regional councilor Alessandra Nardini for aggravated defamation because, in April 2024, in a Facebook post, she harshly criticized Bignami himself (then Deputy Minister of Infrastructure) for attending the inauguration of the right-wing mayoral candidate’s electoral committee in the Pontedera local elections, Matteo Bagnoli, citing and publishing those images. Yes, exactly. This also happens and it is not “Just Kidding”.
The fact was made public today (September 18) by Nardini herself. But to understand the context, we need to go back to 2016, when all national newspapers, and many international ones, published the photo of Bignami, taken eleven years earlier at his bachelor party, wearing a black shirt and a red armband with a swastika. The current FdI leader, who at the time the images were released held the same position in the Emilia-Romagna regional council but with Forza Italia, immediately apologized, reiterating his apologies over the years. In 2022, right after his appointment as Deputy Minister, he returned to the matter: “For me, Nazism is absolute evil, there is no justification for those symbols, but a mistake made almost twenty years ago for which I have already apologized and shown shame is now used as a weapon of political aggression.” Words that also explain his reaction today.
It does not matter if it is all true and it is not a minor episode in a politician’s biography, Bignami would prefer it not to be talked about anymore. Yet, periodically, those images reappear: the most striking episode dates back to the Sanremo Festival 2023, when Fedez tore up that photo. In 2024, councilor Nardini also published and recalled it. In a post where she wrote: “It is already shocking that such characters are in government and that Bignami did not resign after the photo was released, but inviting him as a guest of honor to the ribbon-cutting is chilling. More than direction 2030, I would say 1922. In the end, those of FdI always prove to be nostalgics, unable to come to terms with history, disrespecting even that of Pontedera which proudly roots itself in the values of anti-fascism and the Resistance.”
Today, for Alessandra Nardini the point is different: “I am glad that now Bignami considers dressing as a Nazi offensive, but he did it himself, no one made it up. I also discovered that he is clogging the courts with useless lawsuits like the one against me. The point is that, by suing, he tries to prevent anyone from remembering that shame thinking to silence legitimate, and as far as I am concerned, necessary political criticism. A confirmation of his love for democracy.” In fact, however, the result was the exact opposite of what the FdI leader wanted.
The case was also commented on by the regional secretary of the PD Emiliano Fossi: “If the goal is to intimidate those who continue to remember that episode and firmly claim the values of anti-fascism, it will not work with Alessandra (Nardini, ed) nor with the Democratic Party of Tuscany.” Former Speaker of the Chamber, Laura Boldrini, added: “If someone dresses as a Nazi thinking it is funny, the responsibility is theirs and not of those who denounce the fact for what it is, namely something unacceptable.” Finally, Democratic Senator Ylenia Zambito emphasized that “the use of the judicial tool in the face of political contestation does not change the reality of the facts.”
