Rome
July 11, 2021. Sergio Mattarella, who came to watch the European Football Cup final at Wembley Stadium, exults.
And, suddenly, with a smile on his face, raised his arms to the sky when Leonardo Bonucci equalized against England, allowing Italy to become European champions on penalties.
A sequence of barely three seconds during which the President of the Italian Republic, a big fan of football and Juventus, almost let go.
A rare image for a man who, for seven years, has played his role so restrained.
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Italy: the hypothesis of Prime Minister Mario Draghi as worried president
When, in 2015, Matteo Renzi, then President of the Council, proposed his name to the electors gathered in Congress for the election of the President
,
Mattarella was then a complete stranger.
"He appeared reserved, shy, fragile, almost anonymous, a notary figure
," says Marco Damilano in
Il Presidente
(La nave di Teseo editions), which has just been released.
He spoke in a low voice.
Renzi did not know him personally.
But he seemed to be...
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