«The illness was a bolt from the blue. I went into hospital for some checks and from one day to the next I was operated on. The outlook wasn’t rosy, everything could get really complicated. The fear was there, but I remained clear-headed. I didn’t cry but I prayed, I confess. My deep faith and family gave me strength.” What is told to Monica Setta in the episode of Stories at the crossroads in the evening broadcast on Tuesday 30 June at 9.30pm on Rai2 is a totally new Giuseppe Conte.
For the first time, the former prime minister talks about the surgery he had to face and which was resolved with an operation at the Gemelli hospital in Rome, but also about love. «Olivia and I met when our children were in primary school – she says – I was coming from a separation and was cautious, but that meeting immediately proved to be important. Between us there is a great passion and the desire to build a solid love in a cautious and serene way. Olivia is a prudent woman, with exceptional intuition. He was the first to understand that I would be prime minister when in 2018 they asked me for my availability in a meeting with Salvini and Giorgetti. It was she who gave me strength this time too, in my illness. Today our children are both graduating from high school, they are very close to each other, we are a family.”
Then, the background in the time of Covid. «It was a terrible time, I never got sick but I was afraid because if I had stopped it would have been lethal – confesses Conte – I happened to cry, I am a humble man with his feet firmly planted on the ground, neither a saint nor a hero. But in those days it was impossible for a normal man like me to hold back his emotion in front of the victims of the pandemic.” And when asked about the possibility of Conte becoming Prime Minister again, he is clear: «Palazzo Chigi is not an obsession for me. Even the first time I didn’t expect it. I always say, jokingly, that I passed by Palazzo Chigi and, finding the door open, I thought there was a guided tour, not that they were looking for a prime minister.” And again: «Renzi in the progressive camp? We will talk about it in due course, the essential thing is to have a common proposal to restart Italy. Of course, for me, authority, coherence and reliability are necessary qualities if one engages in politics.”