In a Milan where the air is charged with poisons that are getting deposited like the plague on the parked cars and in the lungs of the people, there has been the celebration of the caravanserai of the first night at La Scala. An out of place show, out of time, a slap to the economic situation. In the theatre, there should have been, selected at random, common citizens. Pensioners, unemployed people, students.
The authorities found themselves in the royal box. Now the monarchy is no longer, the blessing-distributing partitocracy stepped into the top spot of opera, decked out with flowers. Amidst the golden stucco and the crimson drapes, with Napolitano and Monti there were, standing erect, the statesmen Pisapia and Formigoni, the latter wearing his “tails of ten years ago”, a sign of sobriety after the arrest of the vice president of the Lombardy Council, Franco Nicoli Cristiani. At the entrance, in a tunnel of crush barriers, the best of our youth paraded for the photographers. Present among the others, the nuclearist as well as incineratorist Veronesi, the former banker Passera with wife, Valeria Marini with a streetlight on her arm bandaged in dark blue, Marta Marzotto in white, Stefano Boeri, Bruno Vespa with wife and a prominent fluorescent gecko and an incredible couple: Cecchi Paone with Calderoli’s former wife. In their faces the happiness of being there.
Monti’s car was hit by an egg on his arrival, a waste at a time of crisis. A white limousine carrying members of CUB - Confederazione Unitaria di Base {United Grassroots Federation}, arrived right up to the entrance of the theatre. The workmen were immediately recognised by their clothes, costing abundantly less than 10,000 euro, and by their callused hands. They didn’t manage to reach the VIPs to demonstrate their affection for them. Superintendent Stephane Lissner said “From this spot Italy can get going again”, however he didn’t explain where it was going, perhaps because the Italians already know. In Piazza della Scala and in the nearby “Galleria” there were demonstrations of popular joy with placards of musicophiles "Cambia l'orchestra ma la musica è sempre la stessa" {The orchestra changes but the music is always the same} ignored by the new nobility, but not by the Police. Don Giovanni was a triumph; the new rich wore out their gloved hands. A long banner was left on the ground under the statue of Leonardo. It said “We will not pay for your crisis”. Perhaps in the future, but right now it is us who are paying for their crisis.