Sandro Bondi

thumb|Sandro Bondi in 2008 Sandro Bondi (born 14 May 1959) is an Italian politician. He served as minister of culture from 2008 to 2011 in the fourth Berlusconi government. Quotes Only in a country corrupted by the pseudo-culture of the left do people spend their time debating whether individuals like Quattrocchi are heroes or mercenaries. To talk about mercenaries is to adopt the same language as those who praise the Iraqi resistance. Quattrocchi has shown everyone his true feelings. And with that shouted phrase, it cannot be denied that he died a hero. Quoted in Lorenzo Fuccaro, Striscioni allo stadio, email americane: «Quattrocchi eroe», Corriere della Sera, 19 April 2004. The political, cultural and human level of Rutelli's views is comparable to that of a badly behaved child from a posh area. Quoted in Bondi, gaffe sull'handicap "Rutelli alle differenziali", la Repubblica, 19 May 2004. (About the Family Day) An event of this importance should not be seen as a confrontational action against anyone, but rather as a collective moment aimed at affirming the fundamental reality of our society and of the West: the family. Quoted in Family Day, corsa alle adesioni In corteo due ministri. Sì dal Polo, Il Corriere della Sera, 21 March 2007. To understand the bilious provincialism of certain sections of the Italian press, you only need to read Enzo Biagi's commentary , published today in Sette magazine, on our Prime Minister's trip to the USA. What's more, in Biagi's case , there is a despicable inability to understand everything that is great, noble, forward-looking, politically important and human – yes, human – in Silvio Berlusconi's actions, including and above all in his foreign policy. It is a pity to squander that wise and calm judgement that should be characteristic of those with extensive experience. Ansa, 31 July 2003, reported in Marco Travaglio, Carta Canta – Il delitto Biagi/4, la Repubblica, 15 November 2007. (Addressing Vittorio Sgarbi) You lack a fundamental quality – and you have often demonstrated this in your political career – which is good manners and balance. Your lack of balance has not served you well, either in public life or in politics. Porta a Porta, 5 December 2007. It is a pity to see Umberto Eco venting his bitterness towards the Italian Prime Minister through the pages of a foreign newspaper. It's a pity, because his uncontrollable bitterness is matched only by his political and intellectual ineptitude. Quoted in Sandro Bondi, quel ministro tutta poesia e Silvio, Italia Oggi, 24 April 2008. Off the top of my head, I can see a lot of similarities between Obama and [Silvio Berlusconi|Berlusconi]]. Both of them break with established conventions: they are not at all ideological, and they base their leadership on a unique personal communicative charisma. Quoted in Luca Telese, Bondi: "Ecco perché Obama è simile a Berlusconi", Il Giornale, 2 November 2008. (About the Alfano immunity law) To me, it seems like a good law that genuinely protects citizens' rights. From the interview by Daniele Martinelli, 22 January 2009. The Prime Minister has already responded: his relationship with that young girl was based on integrity and propriety. This is the only response that Silvio Berlusconi needed to give, and he gave it. from the TV programme Ballarò, Rai Tre, 26 May 2009. I have known Silvio Berlusconi for almost twenty years. I have worked with him in my personal life and supported him in his political career. I believe I know him well. As all Italians have now realised, he is a person who loves life, a generous person, a person who respects everyone: this is the Silvio Berlusconi I know, I can vouch for that, and this is the Silvio Berlusconi that Italians know. That should be enough. from the TV programme Ballarò, Rai Tre, 26 May 2009. In the gardens of the villa [Villa Certosa], you can have dinner, or lunch, with business people who are passing through, with friends, with MPs, with political leaders… but also, and this is frankly one of the nicest things, with lots of lovely families. Quoted in Fabrizio Roncone, Bondi: ragazze? Alla villa ricordo famigliole, Corriere della sera, 1 June 2009. (About the Alfano immunity law) Every day, I am amazed by the determination, the courage and the moral strength that the Prime Minister  shows in the face of the disconcerting events that have been happening in this unfortunate country for almost 20 years. We should all be aware that without him, without the almost heroic and undoubtedly moving example he sets in the service of freedom, democracy and Italy's development, we would all be deprived of the opportunity to look to the future with even the slightest hope. Lodo Alfano: Bondi, senza Berlusconi non c'è speranza, la Repubblica, 7 October 2009. (Addressing Eugenio Scalfari) You are constantly injecting the seed of anthropological racism and the poison of moral denigration against those who do not think like you into the body of a nation already worn down by historical divisions and political and ideological conflicts. The cultural references you flaunt to justify your opinions are nothing more than scholastic regurgitations or, at best, misinterpretations of readings that have been even worse digested. [...] You represent the exact opposite of a true man of culture. Indeed, your entire history is marked by blind, vindictive militancy in the service of a political party or a partisan interest: from your loyal adherence to fascism to your support for Carlo De Benedetti's venture and your courting of Di Pietro's subversive designs. [...] The ideas you represent [...] pose a serious threat to all those who want to build a freer and more democratic country. from Le sue offese? Una medaglia, Il Giornale, 23 November 2009, p. 7. The 150th-anniversary event [of the Unification of Italy] must not become, as has happened in the past with other historical celebrations, a purely rhetorical event. Instead, at a difficult time like the one we are currently experiencing, it must be a moment of heightened civic awareness, capable of engaging the whole of Italian society and providing opportunities for reflection on our history and our identity, which are necessary to achieve a deeper awareness of national unity. quoted in Corriere della Sera, 24 April 2010. I'm left-wing. I would like a party like Gordon Brown's. Quoted in Lei gli fa la valigia. E lui? La guarda , Corriere della Sera, 4 May 2010. (About Gianfranco Fini) On TV, I offered him my hand, and he tore it off. He said I had been a communist. What nerve, given his own past. Today is 25 April, and I think it’s a good opportunity to remember that, in Italy, the Communists drove out the Fascists. Better red than black. Quoted in Lei gli fa la valigia. E lui? La guarda , Corriere della Sera, 4 May 2010. [About Gianfranco Fini] He's authoritarian. Why have so many from AN now come over to our side? There’s a different atmosphere here. Fini, on the other hand, is a tough guy. He demanded Tremonti's head, and he got it. He abandoned his spokesperson, Sottile. Berlusconi would never have done that.  Quoted in Lei gli fa la valigia. E lui? La guarda , Corriere della Sera, 4 May 2010. (About Pierluigi Bersani) An excellent person. Not a leader, but a balanced, honest and pragmatic politician. Quoted in Lei gli fa la valigia. E lui? La guarda , Corriere della Sera, 4 May 2010. Vendola disappointed me. I congratulated him on his victory. First, he thanked me, then he told the press that if I was a poet, Fede was a journalist. He called my poems terrible. I would have accepted it if he had said they were bad. But 'terrible'… that hurt me so much. Quoted in Lei gli fa la valigia. E lui? La guarda , Corriere della Sera, 4 May 2010. Manuela and I support family values, but we would also like to see rights recognised for civil partnerships, including same-sex couples. The Church should change its attitude. Quoted in Lei gli fa la valigia. E lui? La guarda , Corriere della Sera, 4 May 2010. I myself am completely loyal to Berlusconi and have genuine affection for him, but I have my own views on many issues concerning the future of the PdL and the country. Quoted in Sandro Bondi: «Ho le mie opinioni su molte questioni», ilpost.it, 19 October 2010. (About Sergio Marchionne's comments about Italy's lack of attractiveness) If Italy still had a national leadership class worthy of the name and influential political leaders, it would be giving Marchionne's statements serious thought. To ignore, or worse, to argue over, one of his remarks – as paradoxical as they are alarming – is to pretend that the problems don't exist and that everything can carry on as before. The  left can do that, but anyone working to bring about change and modernise Italy cannot. Quoted in Fiat, è scontro su Marchionne Sacconi lo critica, Bonanni lo difende, la Repubblica, 25 October 2010. Bossi is a wise and prudent leader. Quoted in Bondi: «Bossi è un leader saggio e prudente», ilpost.it, 4 January 2011. (Addressing Eugenio Corti) I am well aware of your literary output, and I have always held it in the highest regard, from your early work through to the publication of the Cavallo Rosso trilogy – a novel that recounts Italy during the Second World War and its subsequent rebirth – and up to the dark period of the terrorist threat to democratic institutions. Furthermore, his later works, essays and articles have, with keen intelligence, contributed to the intellectual debate of the twentieth century. Quoted in Minister Bondi nominates Corti for the Gold Medal for Culture and Art, 3 March 2011, Il Velino; quoted in eugeniocorti.net. Today, no one can ignore how dramatic—and by no means unrealistic—the prospect is of an Italy that is fragmenting into a North politically coloured by the flags of the Lega and the PDL, red regions where the historical legacy of the communist left endures, and finally a South that is the scene of local, clientelist and oligarchic movements, where the influence of organised crime  would be even stronger than it is today. Quoted in “La questione centrale di fronte al PdL”, Il Post, 2 April 2011. Over the past few years, we have not built anything that is humanly or politically sound or genuine. It will end badly. Quoted in La disperazione di Bondi, Il Post, 7 November 2013. Italy needs a breath of freedom and modernisation. That is why we Catholics, too, must rid ourselves of a certain bigotry which, especially on issues of bioethics and civil rights , risks undermining the value of the faith and plunging Italian society into an atmosphere of backwardness. In recent years, the centre-right has adopted positions of pure conservatism and old-fashioned clericalism on some issues, while on others, such as immigration and the rights of foreign nationals, it has distanced itself from the Church’s teachings. Moreover, this behaviour is contradictory and does not reflect the views of the majority of Italian Catholics. Quoted in Sandro Bondi sulle unioni civili e il «vetero clericalismo» del centrodestra, Il Post, 19 December 2013. Berlusconi was brilliant in opposition, but he was disappointing, if not disastrous, at the art of governing and at delivering the political agreements that would have changed our country for the better. He failed to exercise his inclination towards compromise when it would have been appropriate. Quoted in Bondi: "Io, cortigiano pentito. Berlusconi è uguale al conte Ugolino", La Repubblica, 27 December 2015. Berlusconi could be compared to Count Ugolino, who devours the skulls of his sons in the Divine Comedy. And, in the end, this cultural reference is flattering, because Ugolino looks at his sons with despair, whereas Berlusconi's gaze is almost tinged with sadism. Quoted in Bondi: "Io, cortigiano pentito. Berlusconi è uguale al conte Ugolino", La Repubblica, 27 December 2015. Today, Forza Italia is incomprehensible to anyone who does not know about Berlusconi's private life. Quoted in Bondi: "Io, cortigiano pentito. Berlusconi è uguale al conte Ugolino", La Repubblica, 27 December 2015. More than politics, literature , and perhaps even psychology , can offer an interpretation of his existential journey. Quoted in Bondi: "Io, cortigiano pentito. Berlusconi è uguale al conte Ugolino", La Repubblica, 27 December 2015. (About the Cirinnà Bill of Law on civil unions] The passing of this Act will finally make Italy a more modern and more civilised country. Quoted in 'Cosa ha detto Sandro Bondi sulle unioni civili, Il Post, 29 January 2016. (About the Cirinnà Bill of Law on civil unions] I speak as a Christian, a Christian full of doubts and, for the most part, with many unanswered questions, but isn't the doubt that dwells in the deepest part of our conscience the sign of a search and a faith that is not a comforting doctrine but a constant quest to make sense of our lives? As a Christian, I deplore a Church which, despite Pope Francis’ openness , remains stuck on positions that are incompatible with a modern conscience, and, again as a Christian, I am not afraid to admit that Italy’s backwardness in terms of rights and modernity can also be explained by the conservatism and political clericalism of a section of Catholic culture. Quoted in 'Cosa ha detto Sandro Bondi sulle unioni civili, Il Post, 29 January 2016. [About Silvio Berlusconi] [...] The founder of Forza Italia believes in nothing, absolutely nothing. Everything serves his short-term interests, whether they are political or relate to his companies. And it has always been like this over the past twenty years. The result, of course, has been no progress at all for Italy and the Italian people. In fact, the result has been that we have continued to harm this unfortunate country of ours. Quoted in Sandro Bondi dice che Berlusconi ha sempre e solo pensato ai suoi interessi, Il Post, 4 October 2016. Quotes about [...] In fact, Bondi is Berlusconi. Bondi is the leader at the disposal of the suburbs. He listens to everyone. :*Alfredo Biondi, from an interview by Claudio Sabelli Fioretti, Alfredo Biondi, Corriere Magazine, quoted in Interviste.sabellifioretti.it. He's a cross between Don Abbondio and Boldi, in other words, a figure who naturally has a comedic side to him, because Bondi is very funny and naturally pleasant in being funny, and there's the idea that he doesn't actually tell the truth, that he has that element of hypocrisy that's typical of priests and politicians. Bondi is a courtier to the powerful, and I say this without wishing to insult him. In other words, his adoration for Berlusconi is natural and sincere – I know this because I know him – but it seems unnatural for a free man. Vittorio Sgarbi, from the TV programme Porta a Porta, Rai 1, 5 December 2007. Visible at Bondi vs Sgarbi, lite in tv, Repubblica TV, 6 December 2007. External links Bondi, Sandro Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:Politicians from Italy