Ask Me Anything You Want

Ask me anything you want. The premise matters, because at least the first part of this interview resembles an interrogation. But that's the mood in Genoa these days.

Everyone is wondering who will be next. "Even at the risk of sounding naive, let me start with this: 'The sea is rough, but the wind keeps the boat on the waves. Now we can begin.

Mayor Marco Bucci, do you feel implicated? "How could I not be? Emotionally, I mean.

We're talking about people I worked with every day. I was referring to the ongoing investigation. "I read so many false reconstructions in the papers, joining two random points of a more complex mosaic.

Faced with these things, I feel powerless. Do you fear mudslinging or worse coming your way? "I've already received plenty, and it won't end here.

I can't control how certain phrases and events are interpreted. Like in Paris-Roubaix, I'll try to win—that is, do my job—even covered in mud. Did you really do a favor with the money from the Genoa decree, i.e., the Morandi bridge funds, for Aldo Spinelli, one of the financiers of the Toti list that backed your last election campaign?

"That's a falsehood that wounds me. Those aren't 'Morandi bridge funds' but port authority funds. There's a clear error in the reconstruction, I hope only a journalistic one.

What error? "The capping of the Calata Concenter in the port is included in the extraordinary program of port works under the Genoa decree, which followed the Morandi bridge tragedy, and covers dozens of other projects. The funds for port interventions, excluding the super-basin construction site at Sestri Ponente, are at the port authority's disposal.

Everyone knows how hard I fought for the bridge's reconstruction. This is the most defamatory accusation for me, and I hope to clarify it as soon as possible in the appropriate venues. Still, you urged that measure.

"I always urge everything. In fact, I'm a pain in the neck. I fight to get as much as possible for my city.

The expansion of Calata Concenter is part of the Masterplan project in the future port regulatory plan. And let me say it's a good idea. We'll fill the spaces with excavation material from the sub-port tunnel.

If we hadn't made this decision, we'd have had to dispose of that soil elsewhere at enormous cost. The Morandi funds have nothing to do with it. The truth is, this way we'll have many more square meters available to work in the port, and we'll dispose of material for free or nearly so.

Just as Spinelli was asking? "Enough! First: those areas benefit no one, because they've yet to be assigned.

Second: assignments are made by the port authority, not the mayor. Third: sure, Spinelli could apply for those areas, but the port committee isn't obliged to grant them. Even if it might be logical, because all around that zone, the other areas are already in his hands.

Everything in the port and this city was moving forward according to a precise plan that many now pretend to forget. You'll admit some of your phrases... "The one your paper attributed to me about operators who 'don't give a damn' isn't mine, but Giovanni Toti's, as the judge's order shows. The one about the pigs I fed as a child expressed the same concept Claudio Burlando explained in one of your interviews: every time new areas are freed up, a brawl breaks out in the port among contenders.

Burlando has working-class origins, I have peasant ones. But the concept is the same. Do you feel betrayed by anyone?

"Obviously yes. I'm the one who put his face on the line with my colleagues from Reggio Emilia and Turin for Paolo Emilio Signorini's appointment to lead Iren. If certain behaviors of his are true, that's a grave betrayal of my trust.

Giovanni Toti? "I worked a lot and well with the president, and I still hope to work with him again. I've said it and I repeat it.

I know nothing about his relationships with other people. But if certain things are true, it's a problem. Also for me, on a personal level.

More bitter or worried? "Both. Enormous damage is being done to the whole system.

I perceive it. And I see the danger that this city, which we painstakingly got moving again, will stall once more. Then, when I read certain reconstructions in the papers, I also feel betrayed, by people from my own city.

And I don't understand why. At the same time, a question everyone asks: will Marco Bucci run for regional president? "I made a commitment to the city of Genoa, and I intend to honor it to the end.

Look, cemeteries are full of indispensable people. I'm not one. I have to deliver 7 billion euros of PNRR funds for Genoa and do my job.

Does your assessment include possible developments in the ongoing investigation? "I have no reason to think I'll be implicated, and in any case I must remain in my post as mayor. But I could also decide to resign.