Former policeman who led Mani Pulite corruption investigations
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| Antonio Di Pietro led his own political party, called Italy of Values |
Di Pietro was the lead prosecutor in the so-called Mani Pulite
trials in the early 1990s, which led to many politicians and businessmen being
indicted and to the collapse of the traditional Socialist and Christian
Democratic parties.
The Christian Democrats had been the dominant force in
Italian politics since the formation of the Italian Republic at the end of the
Second World War but after several high-profile arrests and resignations and
poor results in the 1992 general election and 1993 local elections the party was
disbanded in 1994.
The Italian Socialist Party was dissolved in the same year
following the resignation of party secretary and former prime minister Bettino Craxi, who was the most
high-profile casualty in the corruption scandal. It was also known as
Tangentopoli, which can be roughly translated as “Bribesville”.
Di Pietro was born into a poor rural family in Montenero di
Bisaccia, a hill town in the province of Campobasso in the Molise region.
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| Ex-PM Bettino Craxi was the major casualty of the Mani Pulite probe |
He graduated in with a degree in 1978, becoming first a
police officer before joining the judiciary as a prosecuting magistrate, a job
in the Italian legal system that is part lawyer and part detective.
Di Pietro was one of a team set up to investigate corruption
following the arrest in 1992 of Mario Chiesa, a Socialist politician and
hospital administrator in Milan, after he was accused of accepting a bribe from
a young entrepreneur in return for awarding his company a cleaning contract.
The three magistrates – Di Pietro, Gherardo Colombo and Pier
Camillo Davigo – were dubbed Mani Pulite – “Clean Hands” by the media. Di
Pietro soon became the most prominent of the trio. Chosen as the spokesman for
the investigating team, he became an instantly recognisable for his strong
regional accent and his evident passion for his work.
The investigation became a high-profile news item
for a considerable time after Chiesa’s evidence implicated many others on both
sides of the Italian political divide, yet critics say it ultimately achieved very
little.
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| Antonio Di Pietro became a famous face in the 1990s |
Corruption charges brought against former prime minister Silvio
Berlusconi had to be dropped because the statutory time period
elapsed.
And while the collapse of the Christian Democrats and
Socialists was a seismic event in Italian politics, the individuals involved
simply regrouped and rebranded themselves. Analysts say corruption is still rife
today.
Di Pietro himself made many enemies, to the extent that he found
it necessary to have a personal protection team after threats were made against
his life. Accusations of corruption
began to be levelled against him and although none was proved his reputation
suffered.
Although around 1,200 convictions resulted from the work of
Di Pietro and his team, Mani Pulite eventually petered out and Di Pietro launched
his own political career. Building on the experience he gained after the
centre-left prime minister Romani Prodi made him Minister for Public Works in
1996, he was elected to the Senate.
He formed his own party, Italia dei Valori (“Italy of Values”)
in 2000, standing against corruption, and served in government as Minister
of Infrastructures when Prodi was elected again in 2006.
Di Pietro continued under the Italia dei Valori banner until
2014, since when he has been an independent. He was elected a member of the European Parliament in 1999.
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| Montenero is perched on a hill in Molise |
Montenero di Bissacia is a small town perched on top of a
hill in Molise, which is probably the least well known of all Italy’s 20
regions, characterised by a narrow coastal plain – about 15km (9 miles) from
Montenero – and a rugged and sparsely populated interior. Campobasso, with around
50,000 inhabitants and about 70km (43 miles) to the south, is the largest population
centre in the region, worth visiting for the remains of the 15th century Castello
Monforte and a number of interesting churches.
The coastal resort of Termoli, about 23km (14 miles) east of Montenero, has
sandy beaches and a walled old town, yet is little known to foreign tourists.
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| The cathedral at Trivento |
One town in Molise worth visiting for a glimpse of an Italy
that no longer exists in many parts of the country is the well-preserved town
of Trivento, which features a wide staircase – the Scalinata di San Nicola - of
365 steps linking the new town with the old.
The town is full of narrow alleyways, often decorated with pots of
brightly coloured flowers, at the heart of which is the Chiesa di Santi
Nazario, Celso e Vittore – Trivento Cathedral – built in the 11th
century.
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