Peter Gomez Marco Travaglio
Inciucio

For those unaware, "inciucio" is a word from the Neapolitan dialect that indicates an under-the-table agreement between people of questionable morality. To understand how this word entered the Italian vocabulary, we need to go back 19 years.

December '94. After 7 months, the Berlusconi government falls. From January '95 to April '96, Lamberto Dini is the prime minister of a new government supported by the PDS, the old Democratic Party. In April '96, the left wins the (early) elections and governs until 2001. Moral of the story: the PDS was in power (with various executives) for 6 years. 6 years, and not even a shadow of an antitrust law to make Berlusconi ineligible for the 2001 elections.

One of two things: either the PDS is a band of incompetents, or there's something more... Of the two, the latter. Why the latter? Because it was "revealed" to us by the honorable Luciano Violante in his famous gaffe at the Chamber: "Do you remember, President Berlusconi, when we promised you that we would not touch your businesses and we would not legislate on conflicts of interest? It was '94". And we thought the 'inciucio' was from '98 (in the Bicameral Commission). No, the 'inciucio' is four years earlier.

Marco Travaglio & Co. narrate the secret idyll between Berlusconi and the left (THE REAL BUNGA BUNGA) in this volume published in 2005, at the zenith of Berlusconism. A volume that tears apart the (un)pious legend of the "moral superiority of the left".

Omission is as bad as the sin. If the Cavaliere has 51% of the blame for the current situation, the left has 49, or maybe the opposite.

But people are not stupid. Previously, leftist voters knew but continued to vote PD(S) – and at the unit celebrations, they limited themselves to booing some management members. Now, tired of being cheated on, they have decided to say enough. Moral of the story: during Bersani's leadership, two hundred thousand members of the Democratic Party decided not to renew their membership. A diaspora.

    - We've argued enough today.
    - To save face, you understand.
(Franco & Ciccio – "The two deputies")