From "watch out for Berluskaiser" to "like a brother": the troubled alliance between Berlusconi and Bossi

Tremonti mediated, Silvio became "a brother" for the Senatùr. Among the most moved in the Duomo di Milano for the last farewell to Silvio Berlusconi, there was Umberto Bossi. In those moments, dozens of images and memories of a relationship in which political rivalry and friendship intertwined with ups and downs must have crossed the mind of the founder of the Lega: "watch out for Berluskaiser," the Senatùr said in '94, distrustful, before becoming a regular guest at the Monday dinners in Arcore, where the Cavaliere always wanted "l'Umbertone". And in the end, for "many years" Berlusconi was for him "like a brother".

In view of the 1994 elections, Berlusconi sent a letter to Bossi inviting him to find "common ground". The agreement would come, "to which we are forced," admitted the Lega member, who put federalism and antitrust on the table and proposed a "blind trust" for managing the tycoon's assets. But only after a continuous bickering between the Cavaliere and the Senatùr: the first said he was "rude"; the second replied, "we'll tear him apart alive". The strange couple won the elections, the two governed together, but the relationship remained difficult. The prime minister pretended not to hear when his ally called him Berluscaz, Forzacoso, and so on, without sparing references to mafia and fascism. Reconciliation came after the "night of Arcore", on August 13, with the famous walk in the park of Villa San Martino and the handshake in front of journalists, following the invitation that inaugurated a tradition in Italian politics, the Monday evening dinners at the Cavaliere's residence. However, the spell lasted little. Some unflattering comments from Berlusconi were overheard by a journalist, then Rai, the financial company, the appointment of Emma Bonino as European commissioner instead of the Lega's Francesco Speroni: a climax that in nine months led Bossi to the motion of no confidence, signed with the Ppi. A liberation for the Senatùr, "it's time to toast". Later, he would say he had regretted it.

After the political upheaval, mutual accusations of betrayal follow. "Berlusconi is someone who understands politics 'el capiss 'na gott'. He is, however, very good at choosing TV presenters." When in 1998 a reconciliation is in sight, the two agree on only one thing: to not eat sardines together, meaning not to meet in an attempt at that counter-reversal against the Olive Tree. Over the years, both realize they have no alternatives. Giulio Tremonti acts as a mediator, and at the end of December 1999, there is a face-to-face meeting in a small room at Linate airport. "Berlusconi has improved", says Bossi in January 2000. A couple of months later, he returns to Arcore to renew a tradition that had been interrupted for six years. Between a dinner and a breakfast at Villa San Martino, the House of Freedoms takes shape, which wins the elections of 2001. There are tensions, but a compromise is always found. Once, peace is made on the sidelines of the funeral of Ernani Confalonieri, father of Fedele, in the cemetery of Comerio.

In 2004, while Bossi is hospitalized, Berlusconi unexpectedly shows up at the abbey of Pontida, where hundreds of League members pray for the health of the 'capò' during the Vespers for the sick. The two will be together in the opposition and then, in 2008, back in government. With their traditional squabbles, but increasingly united. One always eager to have the upper hand, the other capable of being both concave and convex. "With Berlusconi, you can negotiate: if he gives you his word, he keeps it," the League leader will eventually convince himself, trying to pass this experience on to Matteo Salvini. "Silvio was different from how he was described - his last tribute before the funeral at the Duomo di Milano - his principles were beauty, goodness, and justice."