‘Garavaglietti’s’ challenge: ‘It’s either me or the League will end up like turkeys’

His Lega, Massimo Garavaglia’s Lega, Garavaglietti’s Lega – what will it be called? “It will simply be called Lega”. What is its slogan? “Federalists, populists and regionalists”. Why is he challenging Salvini at the extraordinary congress, and why has he stood as a candidate? “Because I love this party, because I want to put a smile back on the Lega’s face, because amongst friends, a glance is always enough”. As with Giorgetti? “A glance”. Is Garavaglia’s Lega right-wing? “We are not left-wing, we are not right-wing, and certainly not far-right. Just as we have never been, and cannot be, moderate. We are a popular and grassroots political force, revolutionary yet pragmatic”.

How long has it been since the League last smiled and fought as they have in recent hours? Garavaglia, Giorgetti’s friend and Attilio Fontana’s friend, ‘the hidalgo’ (and Fontana declares: ‘I’m with Garavaglia, come on!’), says that his League is different from Salvini’s League, and the reason is simple: “Mine aims to be a team, a group of friends, cheerful friends”. In Varese, Brescia, Bergamo, and even in Catanzaro, they call him “Sgara”, and if you add an “r” it becomes “Sgarra”, the verb for someone who takes a different direction, a new path.

To thwart his candidacy, Salvini’s supporters have rounded up signatures (Salvini is said to have over three hundred out of 706 delegates), but Garavaglia has found eighty – eighty who do not walk with their backs to the wall. These are eighty League members who are sharing photos of banners such as these: ‘The North calls, the maverick answers’, ‘Those who deny the farce, act out the tragedy’. It’s true, it’s no contest, just as there was none between David and Goliath. If it were a final, as the Professor from La Casa di Carta would say, Garavaglia is Cameroon and Salvini is Brazil. Who would you support if it were that final? The referee deciding the match is Claudio Durigon, who had kind words for Garavaglia: “He’s a decent bloke”. If Salvini wins the congress, from the very next day we can start calling him “Salvini, Durigon’s deputy”. It is the south – represented by Durigon and Senator Marti – that can change the outcome of this congress. Garavaglia is also asking for their votes, and his programme envisages a League divided into three macro-regions with three presidents who would then sit on the Federal Council. Why should the South or the Centre vote for ‘Sgara’? Garavaglia says: “Because with me, the dream can continue and we won’t end up like the turkeys. Because I have a vision of the League divided into three macro-regions and because, as I write in my manifesto, the League was born from the ruins of old struggles and stale allegiances: neither black nor red, but free with the League.”

There is one night to reflect. The South can choose to follow Salvini until 2031, just as in Beijing, or vote for… Garavaglietti (a portmanteau of the surnames Garavaglia and Giorgetti). This summer we have come to know—and have written about—the ‘hidalghos’ of this Chinese-style party, including Salvini Ping, the various Attilio Fontanas, Romeo, the partisan Romy, and there are also the women who have signed up for the ‘Sgara’: the MPs Comaroli, Bordonali, Pirovano… Garavaglia adds: ‘They’re just the tip of the iceberg’. He is not afraid of being expelled, removed like Hu Jintao – that minister who was taken away during the Chinese Communist Party congress. Garavaglia, are you afraid of being expelled? “I just have a laugh at that.” All of Salvini’s signatures risk being worth less than this charm. That murmur from the League now has a face and a smile. Call Antonello da Messina: the smile of the well-known Garavaglietti.