Request by Galeazzo Bignami, head of the group of Italian Brothers in the Chamber, to reject two articles published in the newspaper Truth Tuesday, this case became a political case. In the article, editorial by director Maurizio Belpietro and news signed by Ignazio Mangrano, several collaborators of President Sergio Mattarella were accused of wanting to obstruct Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The Republican Presidency issued a very strong statement in response, and for hours there was much controversy over the issue.
It all starts from the published page Truth Tuesday morning entitled «This is How Colle Will Try to Stop Meloni». Belpietro wrote that some of Mattarella’s councilors wanted to “trip” Meloni, thus preventing him from completing his mandate and winning the next elections again, in 2027. To achieve this goal, the councilors would imagine opposing the center-right with a centrist civic list containing all the other parties: “The operation, regardless of who leads it, would involve dissolving the center-right coalition (…), to bring the centrist part into the arms of friends (i.e. the center-left, ed.). The aim is to prevent not only a victory for Giorgia Meloni, but also a non-left-wing majority in the next legislative body being able to decide on Sergio Mattarella’s successor.”
Belpietro specifically mentioned one adviser, former Democratic MP Francesco Saverio Garofani, who currently serves as secretary of the Supreme Defense Council (the body chaired by the President of the Republic, which here meets with representatives of the Ministry of Defense on issues related to national security). He said that Garofani expected a “major shakeup” to disrupt Meloni’s administration.
The words attributed to Garofani were not spoken directly Truth. In his article Ignazio Mangrano (which is not the journalist’s name, but a pseudonym often used in newspapers when they want to hide their authorship) wrote that he listened to a conversation with Garofani in a public place. According to Mangrano Garofani hoped for a “new Ulivo” (a center-left coalition formed by Romano Prodi in 1995), in which Ernesto Maria Ruffini, former director of the Revenue Agency, and Prodi himself could play a role. Mangrano writes that Garofani would also say that, if he had not died, his ideal prime minister today would be David Sassoli, the former president of the European Parliament.
Al Corriere della Sera Garofani did not reject the company’s version as a whole Trutheven though he admitted that he was very sad about the affair. However, he categorically denied any plans to overthrow Meloni’s government, and assured that he “never made an out-of-place statement, never showed any kind of antagonism.” Garofani has long been close to Mattarella: after an initial political commitment to the Christian Democrats, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2006 with Ulivo’s coalition and then joined the Democratic Party the following year. He served as deputy until 2018, and then advised Mattarella on institutional matters, and starting in 2022 for the Supreme Defense Council.
Galeazzo Bignami in the Room, September 23 2025 (ANSA/FABIO FRUSTACI)
However, the political case did not emerge after the articles were published Truth but only when, by Tuesday morning, Bignami requested reconstruction Truth rejected (it is not clearly stated by whom, whether by Garofani or Quirinale) “without delay, out of respect for the important role held”. He also said that in the absence of an official denial, it would be legitimate to conclude that the allegations were Truth established.
The Presidency of the Republic then issued a statement (which was actually a bit of a denial) stating that “in the Quirinale there was astonishment at the declaration of the leader of the group in the House of the party of the relative majority which seemed to give credence to another attack on the Presidency of the Republic that was built close to the ridiculous”. After the presidential statement, Bignami specified that the repair request was not addressed to Quirinale or Mattarella but to council member Garofani.
Belpietro also commented on the story on Tuesday while speaking on RTL 102.5 radio: he also expected resistance from Garofani, and accused the Republican Presidency of wanting to put a “silencer” on the story. In fact, although according to Bignami’s article Truth will be detailed, many things are not understood: it is not clear for example what exactly the content of this “plan” is, or what the “centre” is that forms the coalition that should prevent (and how?) a victory for Meloni (among other things, the bickering of the well-known center-left groups, and the difficulty in uniting parties that cannot coexist, such as the 5 Star Movement and Action). The same “surprise” that Garofani expected was unknown, as Belpietro himself wrote.
In short, Garofani’s opinion looks like a personal opinion expressed with a little carelessness so that it can be heard by others.
Furthermore, the conversation that appears to be an extrapolation of Garofano’s statement will occur at an informal dinner during Mattarella’s visit to Germany a few days ago. However, the articles only came out on Tuesday: the day before the Supreme Defense Council was convened – a secret meeting, where the adviser in charge of the President of the Republic was one of the few people admitted along with the general secretary Quirinale -, from which a very clear statement was issued about the need to continue supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia. Truth this was a newspaper that was highly critical of Ukraine: in political circles, the timing of the article was interpreted as a coincidence.
However, this is not the first time that Bignami has created a conflict situation that embarrassed his party and its allies in the majority government. In fact, the deputy is known for his excesses, so much so that several ministers and Meloni himself have advised him to be more careful. Bignami, who used to play in the Youth Front (the youth organization of the Italian Social Movement), became the center of controversy in 2022 when an old photo of him wearing a Nazi uniform with a swastika armband on his arm circulated widely. At that time, the Meloni Government had just been appointed as Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation.
Several important exponents of the Fratelli d’Italia intervened in this matter to ease the matter somewhat, including the deputy secretary of the Council’s president Giovanbattista Fazzolari. However, Giorgia Meloni did not speak about it directly, but on Wednesday she met Mattarella at the Quirinale and then issued a note from the Prime Minister’s Office: the note said that “there was no institutional conflict”, but it also stated that Meloni expressed to Mattarella “her regret for the institutionally and politically inappropriate words spoken in a public context by Council Member Francesco Saverio Garofani”. This is a position where Meloni maintains his opinion, while seeking peace.
Many politicians from opposition parties strongly criticized Bignami’s request. The Democratic Party, the 5 Star Movement, and the Green and Left Alliance in the House have asked Meloni to provide critical information on the issue, which Bignami said was “completely unnecessary” in his speech to the House on Tuesday.
– Read also: Things had been bad between Mattarella and Meloni for some time
