The rise of Taruffi, Elly Schlein's Fazzolari. He holds the party's keys, two delegations (which irritate the Democratic Party's reformists).

Dear Lenin, he's your son! We've arrested the man of the moment, comrade Igor Taruffi, Taruffenko. Comrade Taruffi, head of organization for the Democratic Party, are you the most powerful man since Schlein? "You say so. I'm Elly's business-shy guy." Comrade Taruffi, who are you connecting with? "With L'Aria che Tira. Here I am, good morning" (the location is Via degli uffici del Vicario, a few meters from the Chamber of Deputies). Comrade Taruffi, they say you put Eugenio Giani on trial for four hours, four! (Taruffenko live: "Political reasons will prevail.") Comrade Taruffi, what are you doing in Campania with Vincenzo De Luca? "We will ensure good governance." Here's the man who undermined the old Democratic Party with his Hoogans. With Taruffi, socialism isn't a hoax but the insole of the future.

Comrade Taruffi, is it true that you hold two positions, including that of the Democratic Party's local government? "Sorry, I have to intervene" (in the background, Taruffenko explains: "There was no imposition from above on Tuscany"). Everyone has tried to explain it, but they have given up on his five-minute vocabulary, his linen shirt, his blue overalls, rumpled (it's a quirk), his Ilyich-style goatee (a legacy of nights spent dreaming of the October revolution in Emilia), and his indomitable faith in socialism which, Taruffi confirms, "is earned one step at a time." Two steps forward. We conquer the cobblestones and listen to Taruffenko live (Elly Schlein launched him on TV and the TV flatters him, fawns over him: "We want the live broadcast with Taruffi"). Channel 7 presses him, and we intervene during the breaks. Comrade Taruffi, let's go back to that fiery afternoon: it was you, the governor of Tuscany, Giani, the regional secretary Fossi, and they say you and Fossi spanked poor Giani... Taruffenko is live in the studio again: "We are building the broad field region by region. We won't give up." Yes, Comrade Taruffi, but what did you say to Giani for four hours and why did three separate statements come out, yours, Fossi's, and Giani's, and why did you take him by the arm and lead him to the station like the Carabinieri with Pinocchio? (It's 11:40 in the morning and Taruffenko is clean-shaven, ready again today to devote himself to his April Theses and to the local branches of the Democratic Party, the party he leads, acting as commissioner when necessary.) The video signal comes back and Taruffi speaks: "Can you hear me? Look, as I was explaining, sometimes it takes time. In those hours with the president of Tuscany, we had in-depth discussions about healthcare and transportation." Ah. A phone call to Bologna. Forgive us, but in practice, before climbing the Democratic Party ladder, which kolkhoz did comrade Taruffi work in? The cooks at the Unità party explain to us that Taruffi "has a solid political culture. This is a force to be reckoned with." Let's hope so. Who was his mentor? "First of all, he trained in Porretta Terme, where he formed a fundamental partnership." His name? "Igor is a great friend of the singer-songwriter Francesco Guccini, but always remember that his original party was the Communist Refoundation Party and then Sel during the Fratoianni era." The Democratic Party is truly a strange monster that a member can dominate with Schlein and a hand... In the Chamber of Deputies, we meet Nicola Fratoianni, the talent scout of communism, who offers us these adjectives: "Igor, a square, determined, Apennine-like leader. He does his job, and does it well. He has to play the tough guy, but he's a good guy. It's true, he was also the regional secretary of Sel." Let's return to Bologna, the Moscow where the Schlein revolution began, where Igor, in the provinces, played football as a central defender ("I was in the youth teams at Pistoiese, in the Allievi Nazionali and Primavera championships," Taruffenko revealed to Il Foglio). The source, a fountain, from Bologna, said: "Igor and Guccini play cards together, wine and bread, but Igor also has another important friendship with the former Bologna coach, Ulivieri, the red coach, the communist. Igor meets Bonaccini, known as Bonaccini-Ban, who appoints him regional councilor, then Elly meets Igor and appoints him head of organization for the Democratic Party, and then she, him, the other one, and the other one again..." There are three of them, the three fastest in the Democratic Party: the handsome one (Flavio Alivernini, head of the press office), the cold one (Gaspare Righi, head of the secretariat), and the red-haired Igor, who has the flaming cheeks of a train driver. From the second floor of the Nazareno, Taruffenko also disposes of and accumulates the old delegation of the other "uffi," Davide Baruffi (the true head of local government for the Democratic Party, who was appointed regional councilor in Emilia-Romagna with no less than eight delegations). It's all a matter of consonants. Do you want to know what the former minister, the reformist Lorenzo Guerini, the Cautious One, actually says to his friends in the mountains, in his Lodi? "I wanted to get an update on Tuscany from the head of Local Government, but then I realized I was using the wrong consonant..." So what did poor Giani do wrong? He said he was running again, but he said it before Taruffi closed the deal in Campania with Giuseppe Conte. Taruffenko, who seems so kind and honest, then allegedly sent Giani such precise and harsh messages "that every tongue must tremble and be silent." It ends with Giani running to Rome, and Taruffi running to the Chamber of Deputies to escape us. The caress comes from Gianni Cuperlo, the Joyce of the Democratic Party, who reveals: "Igor has a unique, beautiful quality. He's loyal to the secretariat." And he says nothing except that socialism will happen. On the right, in the FdI there was someone like him. They called him "Senator Fazzolari from Messina..."

Carmelo Caruso

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