A backlash is growing in Italy against a decision to rename Milan’s main airport after the controversial late former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, with the city’s mayor describing the decision as “crazy”.
More than 35,000 people have signed a petition calling on Giorgia Meloni’s government to stop the plan after the transport minister, Matteo Salvini, said he would give the final go-ahead to a decision by Enac, the Italian civil aviation authority, to rename Malpensa airport “in memory of my friend Silvio”.
The mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala, accused Enac of succumbing to pressure from rightwing politicians while claiming that the decision was made without consulting SEA, the company that operates Milan’s airports.
Berlusconi was born in Milan and died in the city last year at the age of 86. Forza Italia, the party he founded, is a partner in Meloni’s ruling coalition.
“It is crazy that in Italy such a decision is made by a president of Enac,” said Sala, who had already blocked a proposal to dedicate Milan’s second airport, Linate, after Berlusconi. “I cannot understand how politics correlates with such a way of doing things,” he told the Italian media.
Ordinarily, there is a mandatory 10-year wait after a person’s death before a public place can be named after them.
The petition was launched by the youth wing of the centre-left Democratic party, which argued that the airport should instead be named after “a figure who embodies values of honesty, integrity and community service”.
“Silvio Berlusconi does not reflect these values, as demonstrated by the numerous criminal convictions he received over the years,” the petition said.
Marco Grimaldi, an MP with the Green and Left Alliance, cited plenty of “non-shabby” illustrious Milan-born figures whom the airport could be named after, including the composer Giuseppe Verdi, the poet Alessandro Manzoni, the dancer Carla Fracci and the poet Alda Merini.
Grimaldi said: “Who knows if minister Salvini is aware that Rome’s Fiumicino airport is named after Leonardo da Vinci, Venice’s after Marco Polo, and Genoa’s after Christopher Columbus. Then there’s Sandro Pertini for Turin airport, Catullus for Verona, Marconi for Bologna, Galileo for Pisa and last but not least Falcone and Borsellino for Palermo.
“I for one would be ashamed to take a flight from Falcone and Borsellino airport and land at Silvio Berlusconi airport.”
The decision was mocked over social media, including a joke video on TikTok by the low-cost airline, Ryanair.
The decision to give Berlusconi a state funeral caused an outcry in Italy, as did the government’s approval of a postage stamp marking the first anniversary of his death in June.
“Enough is enough,” said Grimaldi.
