It’s raining this morning. A curtain of light rain can be glimpsed from the large window overlooking the rough sea, in the large family villa of the d’Alcontres, in Sant’Agata, on the coast road. It’s raining like that evening twenty-seven years ago, January 15, 1998. When the life of the prof. Matteo Bottari was destroyed by a single lupara shot which thunderously crashed into sleepy Messina, the “hidden city”. Even today a tragic death without a reason.
Alfonsetta Stagno d’Alcontresthe wife of the prof. Bottari is sitting on the armchair in the living room closest to the sea, her hands move frantically. Opening this very painful and unresolved page once again after a long time is difficult for her. As we begin to talk, one of her sons, Antonio, now an established doctor at the Polyclinic, calls her on the phone, a drop of water with her father. He takes care that she doesn’t get too upset, over the years, after what they have suffered, his affection for his mother grows with each passing day. As he speaks and remembers, his voice breaks several times with bitter tears. But she is a strong woman. He has real courage speaking out today.
In today’s paper edition of Gazzetta del Sud – Messina the interviews with his wife Alfonsetta Stagno d’Alcontres, the rector of the time Gaetano Silvestri and to the current deputy prosecutor of Messina Rosa Raffa who, when she was deputy of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate, personally dealt with the Bottari murder for three years in a row.