Controversy in Gioiosa Ionica, a town in the Locride area. The cause of the controversy was decision of the municipal administration to remove the plaque that 12 years ago had been placed in Piazza Plebiscito, in the center of the town, on the initiative of the association “La forza della musica”, in memory of Mino Reitanooriginally from Fiumara di Muro, in the Reggio Calabria area, and died in 2009 at the age of 65. “With an act that has shocked the entire community of Gioiosa Ionica – it is said in a statement by the minority group ‘Costruire Insieme’ – the municipal administration, without our knowledge, has decided to remove, without warning and without any explanation, the monument dedicated to Mino Reitano. This stone with a plaque, placed by a previous administration, represented a symbol of pride for the citizens of Gioiosa Ionica and a tribute to a great artist who brought the name of Calabria throughout the world. The sudden removal of the monument, without any municipal resolution, was an act of pure presumption and at the same time an abuse of power that cannot go unnoticed. The local community is deeply outraged by this arbitrary decision, which seems to be motivated exclusively by the desire to personally spite the president of an association that had strongly wanted and supported the placement of the monument. But it is also an act that represents an offense to the memory of Mino Reitano and his family”.
The mayor of Gioiosa Ionica intervened on the matter, questioned by Ansa, Luke Twisted: «As a municipal administration – said Ritorto – we have nothing against the figure of Mino Reitano, who remains a great artist who has brought prestige to all of Calabria, nor against his memory and his family. The attack on the Gioiosa municipal administration by the opposition council is excessive and wrong both in form and content. The removal of the commemorative stone is part of a project, moreover well-known and announced, to restyling the entire area of the square. None of us has ever even thought of treating the memory of a great artist with contempt, adopting behavior marked by arrogance and disrespect».