For the first time in its history the mayor of Genoa, in this case the mayor Silvia Salis, was excluded from cutting the inaugural ribbon on the first day of the Boat Show.
Prime Minister Meloni, who arrived in the morning, was on stage with the president of Confindustria Nautica Pietro Formenti and the president of the Liguria Region Marco Bucci. Salis was not there but he was on stage cutting the ribbon last year with Minister Santanchè and Minister Urso. The absence was noticed by many of those present. The mayor subsequently took the stage alone for the traditional greeting, followed by other speeches. When the controversy had already exploded.
The Nautico organization makes it known that their ceremony included the mayor at the time of the ribbon cutting alongside the prime minister and the president of the Region. Among a thousand embarrassments, nothing else is added but it is possible to assume that another ceremony intervened, even before a setlist error.
At noon the prime minister left. First Meloni listened to the words of the mayor Silvia Salis and the brief speech of the governor Marco Bucci, with whom he shook hands at the end. After briefly greeting the mayor and other authorities, Meloni left the ceremony.
In the early afternoon, the news filtered through Palazzo Chigi that Meloni was surprised and disappointed to find that Silvia Salis was not present on stage. Subsequently, the prime minister telephoned the mayor herself to express her regret for what had happened. Salis said she was sorry for the institutional disgrace suffered by the city, she underlined that the responsibilities for the incident remain to be clarified, the reason why the president of the Liguria Region, Bucci, was present and she thanked the president for the phone call.
During the ceremony, in the Palazzo Chigi version, the prime minister would have asked the president of Confindustria Nautica Piero Formenti the reason for Salis' absence, learning at that moment "it was an error in the organization of the Show".
The version of the organizers is still different: "In relation to the news circulated in the press, we specify that the ceremonial inauguration of the 66th International Boat Show did not include the participation in the ribbon cutting of either the President of the Liguria Region, Marco Bucci, or the Mayor of Genoa, Silvia Salis". The Ligurian governor, however, was on stage. "It is also clarified - explains the note - that the Presidency of the Council is completely unrelated to the incident".
The President of the Region, Marco Bucci, on the case of Salis's exclusion from the stage, instead said: "I know absolutely nothing about it, as mayor I have always gone. They didn't tell me I had to go up, when they called me I went. 99% I think it was a ceremonial decision".
"I don't want to start a controversy. I would just like to remind you that we are on loan to the institutions, the institutions are not 'ours'. We serve them, they don't serve us. We represent the institutions for which we were voted. But I must say that if the objective, as is rumored, was to take away attention from me, I don't think it was achieved", comments Salis.
"I represent the city of Genoa - said Salis -, so I have no intention of causing controversy. It was a shame, obviously not to be on stage. But what I want to convey to you is the sense of service towards our role. They are not personal tasks, they should not be personalized in any way".
The Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, telephoned the mayor of Genoa, Silvia Salis, to express her regret for what happened this morning at the inauguration of the 66th International Boat Show. This is what we learn from sources in the Municipality of Genoa. This morning the mayor was excluded from welcoming the Prime Minister at the Salone and from cutting the ribbon with flag raising on the inauguration stage. Salis said she was sorry for the institutional disgrace suffered by the city, she underlined that the responsibilities for the incident remain to be clarified, the reason why the president of the Liguria Region, Bucci, was present and she thanked the president for the phone call.
The reactions
The first political reactions to the case arrive: "An unprecedented institutional disgrace - Italia Viva writes in a note - For the first time in the history of the Genoa Boat Show, the mayor of the city hosting it was not invited on stage at the inaugural ceremony. It had never happened in 66 editions. It is not a question of form. The Show is one of the symbols of Genoa in the world, and the presence of its mayor at the ribbon cutting has always been a sign of respect towards the city and towards the institutions that represent her. Excluding Silvia Salis means ignoring traditions, institutional etiquette and, even before that, the Genoese".
"For the first time in the history of the Genoa Boat Show, no representative of the Municipality of Genoa, in the case in question the mayor Salis, was invited to the stage of the inauguration. We are at a level of arrogance that leads to the heights of ridicule. It would be laughable if facts like this were not yet another sign of institutional degradation, a degradation that starts from the removal of the fact that the lack of all due respect for a public office is equivalent to an offense towards all citizens who democratically represents", writes former Labor Minister and Democratic Party member Andrea Orlando on social media.
"What happened this morning at the inauguration of the 66th Boat Show is frankly disconcerting. For the first time in the history of the event, the mayor of Genoa was excluded from the traditional cutting of the inaugural ribbon."
This was declared by the president of Linea Condivisa Rossella D'Acqui and Gianni Pastorino with Filippo Bruzzone, representatives of Linea Condivisa respectively in the Regional Council and in the Municipal Council in the Municipality of Genoa.
"The International Boat Show is inaugurated and the Mayor of the Municipality of Genoa Silvia Salis is not invited on stage to cut the ribbon. I had never seen something like this. And I hoped not to see it. What a shame to be represented by people like that, without the slightest culture of respect due to the institutions. I would say that I expect an apology, but I don't hope for it too much. However, I am sure that in this photo the only exceptional thing that is noticeable is the absence. And in the long run, time is a gentleman", comments the Councilor for Culture of the Municipality of Genoa Giacomo Montanari.
