It wasn't really a scandal. There was no blood, nor a ransom. The mystery that revolves around the figure of Federico Caffè continues to excite but with profound dignity. Professor of economics who dedicated his whole life to the university, his family were his students and he had no other hobbies other than music and solitary reading. Caffè couldn't bear the end of his career and with humility and reserve, on tiptoe, on April 15th 25 years ago, at the age of 73, he decided that the figure of the professor was what should remain of him.
Daniele Archibugi, director of the National Research Center (Cnr), son of a close friend of Caffé and one of his favorite students, was part of that group of close friends who were the first to hear the news of his disappearance and for 5 days they searched for him every corner of the capital in the hope of finding it again. Only on Sunday 20 April 1987 did Archibugi go to Ansa to give the news to public opinion. Since then everything has been written, sometimes tarnishing the figure of the professor, who had been suffering from severe depression for a few months and whose suicide is suspected by many.
Driven to relive those moments, the former student of Caffè sees in the mystery of his master an elegant exit from the scene. “I prefer to remember Federico with the smile he had when he taught. Only when he was behind the chair was he really him: an exceptional man, with extreme sensitivity and able to make people of all social classes feel at ease". Always attentive to the disparities with the poorest sections of the population, one of the first economists to spread Keynes' thinking in Italy, Caffè was also a lecturer to the president of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi and the governor of the Bank of Italy Ignazio Visco. “He had great esteem for Draghi, he said 'Draghi is a Dragon' when he was only 29 years old. All of his pupils remember him fondly. He was the teacher that anyone would like to have."
FIRST online – Professor, what do you remember of that Wednesday 15 April 1987?
Arquebuses – The anguish of not knowing how to act. Together with a few other pupils of Federico and his grandchildren we were attacked by the dilemma of how to behave towards public opinion. If we had disclosed the news, many would have looked for him. But on the other hand it would have been more difficult to hide his health problems and, if we had found him, to reintegrate him into society. Furthermore, if, as we suspected, he was attempting suicide, there was the risk that, out of anxiety to be found, he would seek death as soon as possible. So at first we only communicated it to the police.
FIRST online – But in the end you were forced to break the news to the press.
Arquebuses – Yes, and journalists – damned breed – have always sought scandal. Already when Marco Ruffolo, also a pupil of Caffé, wrote the first article in Repubblica, they asked him to dramatize it. And since then, everything has been written about the reasons for the disappearance of Caffè until it descends into ridicule. I prefer to maintain an aura of mystery and tell the extraordinary person of him.
FIRST online – But you will have made an hypothesis about the story.
Arquebuses I don't know if I want to get one. However, I think that there are basically two hypotheses. The most tragic is that he took his own life. Or he may have found refuge in a convent or in some hidden community. Anyway someone must have helped him. It is difficult to hide one's body from the dead, if he had committed suicide the body would have had to be found, and it is easier for a person to help you disappear from society than to take your life. In the case of retreat to a community, I had an uncle who was Canon of St. Peter's who helped us verify whether he had entered some convent. We did a lot of investigations but they didn't lead us to anything.
FIRST online – Who could have helped him?
Arquebuses – Caffé was very reserved, introverted, closed in on himself. His physiognomy was the mirror: short, small and with closed shoulders, a sign of a slight embarrassment. With his friends she had binary relationships, two by two. So it is possible that we have missed a person with whom he had a special relationship and who helped in his escape. But by now Federico would be 98 years old. It's quite unlikely that he's still alive. I wonder if we really need to question his end. Shouldn't we accept that his disappearance will always remain a mystery and tip our hats off because he managed to do what he preferred to do?
FIRST online – How do you like to remember him? What was the main legacy that Maestro Caffè left us?
Arquebuses – I like to imagine him when he was teaching. Alone, behind a chair he transformed himself. The muscles on his face melted into a slight smile, a sign of the strong self-irony that characterized him; his shoulders opened in newfound self-confidence. He bent one leg on the chair and sat on top of him, adding that extra 3-4 cm to his small stature that gave him strength and made him feel comfortable with him. I like to remember him like this, with the smile he had when he conversed with the students. Because they didn't know it, but he needed his pupils more than the other way around.
FIRST online – He was the professor that all students would like to have. Among his pupils, Mario Draghi and Ignazio Visco stand out for their notoriety. What would the professor say about the economic policy implemented by his protégé?
Arquebuses – Federico's heart has always beaten to the left, he would probably be more in favor of a more expansive monetary policy. But I know Mario Draghi well and I can say that, on a human level, both have two very similar characteristics: personal confidentiality and human affability towards anyone, regardless of their social position. Draghi like Caffé is an extremely sensitive person. But Federico has always been more focused on others than on himself. He had an enormous maieutic ability, and as the Socrates of a long line of disciples I want to remember him.
