"Milan, a monstrosity, will only breed more poverty. Now it's terror and inaction." Agnoletto (Assimpredil) speaks.

Here's one. His name is Camillo Agnoletto , he's a construction entrepreneur in Milan, cousin of former mayor Giuliano Pisapia, of the anti-globalization Vittorio, and he tells Il Foglio: "I restored Palazzo Pitti, the Uffizi, La Fenice in Venice, I vote left and I tell the left that the Milan investigation will produce and is producing only new poverty . The workers will pay for the investigation." Do you have "clean hands" as Beppe Sala says? "It's right to say not 'I' but 'we'. I assure you that many of the officials splashed across the front pages, passed off as unscrupulous fixers, have cleaned theirs." Why aren't your colleagues speaking up? "Milan is afraid of the prosecutor's office. They're turning a city into a monster. Who will compensate you in case of a mistake?"

Agnoletto, one of the founders of Assimpredil (the association of Lombardy construction companies), says that "a place, Milan, is being turned into a monster, paralyzing the lives of hundreds of families with mortgages who won't be able to buy into those homes. Halted construction sites mean frozen wages. The investigation won't be paid for by the big Arab funds, but by the most vulnerable, those the left should be protecting."

Agnoletto's father, Attilio, was a professor of religious history at the University of Milan ("Giuliano's mother's brother, and I'm also Vittorio's cousin"). His son now runs Ekostruct and participated in the renovation of London Bridge station, a city, Agnoletto says, where "building can be done in six months because that's how it works in countries that breathe modernity." Has he ever had a construction site seized for using the Scia, the notification of commencement of construction? "The only project I've ever seen blocked was a very small project in Bisceglie submitted through the usual route, with stamps, requests, and waiting. The Scia isn't a free pass for scoundrels, but the state's response to the inaction of its offices, to the backlog of paperwork to be processed." Agnoletto says that "the banks that financed the real estate deals are scared, and the municipal officials are scared." When you go to the city hall in Milan, who do you find? “I find employees living with the fear of being investigated, highly respectable, competent men and women, who are not governed. The Landscape Commission has been investigated, but who chairs the Landscape Commission today? Who replaces those under investigation?” Have you ever had anything to do with this commission? “Why don't we start by saying that the commission was unpaid and worked for free? Let's reconstruct the context. There is a planning law that dates back to 1942, and I repeat, 1942. Let's be clear, I'm the first to say that magistrates must investigate, but a notice of investigation now passes for a conviction.” What do you think of the Democratic Party, which prudently defended Sala, and after two days, what do you think of Mayor Sala? “I think it would be left-wing to say: investigate, but let's protect those working on scaffolding, not unload an investigation on them. In this narrative of Milan, the left fails to mention that the poor people are already paying the price. And I also want to tell you that I don't like hearing Sala say 'I have clean hands.' The authorities defend themselves, the men under investigation today and not yet convicted defend themselves.” What should he have said? “That 'we' have clean hands, at least until the contrary is proven.” Where in Milan were you born? “I was born in Porta Vittoria, and this idea of the Milan of Via Gluck, a lost city that needs to be resuscitated, is another major left-wing misunderstanding. It's a misunderstanding to think that investment funds will wait for the investigation to be completed. They will flee, and many have begun to do so, to Dublin.” Does the left have a problem with concrete? "Until his houses appreciate in value. I still remember the protests by the Garibaldi neighborhood committees. They didn't want the towers, the redevelopment, but today not a single one of them protests. The value has increased by as much as 300 percent." What are the "faults" of Sala and Stefano Boeri, protagonists of this era that even the Democratic Party wants to erase, they say "turn the page"? "They talked too much to the newspapers and too little to the people. Beyond the investigation, there's another crime being charged against him, a crime that isn't a crime: vanity." Why does his cousin, former mayor Pisapia, take refuge in discretion? "He left politics like so many Milanese people do, exhausted, convinced they've wasted energy, and more. There's a price that's not talked about, the price many administrators pay."

Will the Milan model end up under seizure? "It's the only model that keeps us connected to the world. Today, we seize, we investigate, but remember that all the sales, agreements, and concessions were signed in front of notaries and public officials. Will we investigate them too?" Will Milan emerge from this by voting right? "It would be right-wing and left-wing to start asking: when it's all over, and it will be over, who will compensate for mistakes? How much will 'we were just wrong' cost?"

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