At the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, history no longer passes through there: where Arafat and Shimon Peres once met, today they invite Vannacci. Incredible!

For nearly fifty years the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio It was a world-class international meeting place that truly made history. Just think of the legendary handshake in 1996, right there at Villa d'Este, between the PLO leader Yasser Arafat and that of Israel Shimon peres. Or the fascinating arrival by helicopter of Gianni Agnelli or the Coca Cola asked for at night by a thirsty person Bill GatesNot to mention the endless list of people who passed through Cernobbio at the beginning of September: from Gorbachev a Kissinger, from the future Pope Ratzinger to Joe Biden and Giorgio Napolitano and an infinite number of prime ministers, heads of state, Nobel Prize winners, ministers, political leaders, academics and the elite of finance and business. The best of the best of the elite. But that story is over. Perhaps forever. The Forum has gradually lost authority and quality and the lowest point of its sad decline will be reached this weekend when the fascist and pro-Russian leader of Futuro Nazionale, the General Roberto Vannacci, fans of the Tsar Vladimir PutinHow could the Forum's new organizers have possibly invited him? They say Vannacci is a newcomer to current politics and that it's right to give the audience the opportunity to listen to him. This is a hypocritical justification: we know Vannacci's aberrant political theses—from re-immigration to denial of the crime of femicide to open support for Russia's war against Ukraine, to name but a few—all of which are well known. There was absolutely no need to offer him a platform of such pomp and circumstance. A truly incomprehensible choice that tarnishes the history of the Ambrosetti Forum. What a shame.