How far does Stefano Bandecchi want to go?

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Stefano Bandecchi defines himself as “a multifaceted entrepreneur with a thousand roles”, speaks of himself in the third person, says he is right-wing and calls those who insult him a fascist. Born in Livorno in 1961 but also linked to Rome, he was a paratrooper with the Folgore and on a mission in Lebanon, he claims that he was a laborer and a fisherman and now presents himself as “one of the major Italian taxpayers”.

Until a few months ago he was mostly known as the founder and president of the Niccolò Cusano University, born as a telematic university, that is, accessible remotely, and recognized as such by the Ministry of Education since 2006. Over the years, however, the Unicusano has also become much more by taking advantage of the tax breaks with which the State allows university institutes to reinvest their income, net of management costs and contributions, in joint stock companies, therefore in entrepreneurial activities.

Through Unicusano, Bandecchi managed over a dozen companies active in the real estate, health, telecommunications and agri-food markets, also abroad and also in professional football: since 2017, Unicusano has owned Ternana, currently in Serie B after relegation to Serie C in their first season after change of ownership. Bandecchi also claims to have financed various politicians, in a rather transversal way: from Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani to former minister Luigi Di Maio.

However, these concessions to universities do not allow the distribution of dividends among shareholders, and so, in addition to investing in companies, granting loans and rather high salaries, such as the 4 million gross euros per year received by Bandecchi, Unicusano usually buys goods, even flashy ones. For example, Ferraris and Rolls Royces worth over half a million euros are kept in the parking lot of the university campus in Rome, theoretically intended for representation but in fact almost unused.

In this way, with the earnings generated by a university that is less structured than many others, and which some believe provides meager, if not inadequate, preparation, Unicusano has become the center of millionaire investments in the commercial sector that would have far exceeded those related to its institutional activity. This is what the Guardia di Finanza claims, which has been investigating the group for tax evasion since the beginning of the year, and Bandecchi for having concealed millions of euros.

Bandecchi can also be defined as a politician. In 2022, in a personal capacity, he revived Alternativa Popolare, the center-right party founded in 2017 by Angelino Alfano, with which he supported center-right candidates in Lombardy and Lazio in the last regional elections. Precisely in Lazio he had donated 10 thousand euros to the candidate Francesco Rocca, later elected, who however had returned it to him upon news of the investigations.

Before anyone began to investigate him, Bandecchi presented himself as a talkative, energetic and apparently friendly entrepreneur, with a great spirit of initiative and many ideas to sell. Last November he announced his candidacy with Alternativa Popolare for mayor of Terni, and among his projects there is still that of establishing «a councilorship for San Valentino», the patron saint of the city, to make Terni «the city of ‘Love”.

In recent times, however, it has been making people talk for many other reasons, such as if pictures of the Ferraris and Rolls Royces kept in the parking lots of the Unicusano campus had revealed another character to the public, the same one who in certain audios recently published online threatens to “wall up” his employees or fire them in the absence of answers “within five minutes”.

He has been a guest at the talk several times A clean sweep on La7, where he defended the perplexities that emerged about his activities, ironically calling himself a criminal and a tax evader. But above all he is facing major disputes in Terni – a city that thanks to him would have already become “famous all over the world” – due to the crisis of Ternana, at the beginning of the season leading the championship and now dropped to mid-table.

In one of the last matches he spat at some fans after being similarly provoked from the stands. Then at the press conference he vented for half an hour in front of the journalists present, saying among other things: «Today there were three thousand people in this fucking stadium, and excuse me if I say stadium. Two thousand left to tell us to fuck off, would this be a fan base? They took a tour of England, learned to see what football is. Other than redoing the stadium: maybe I’ll knock this one down and not build shit on it, not even the bar chairs I’ll put in».

Bandecchi uses social media a lot, Instagram in particular, where he now alternates between photos of the aid he sends to Ukraine on behalf of Alternativa Popolare and comments on the increasingly frequent messages with which in Terni they call him a “worm” or invite him to leave. Since January yes vent there too, like when he wrote to some Ternana fans: «You don’t deserve shit, you are exalted in the positive moments and useless shit in the negative ones. Connect your brain or else stop fucking with me because the bottle you threw at me today I’ll put them back up your ass».

However, he does not seem to have any intention of leaving Terni, of which he has also been an honorary citizen since 2022 “for his sporting and social commitment”. He is in talks to sell Ternana, although according to his latest statements, Unicusano should remain involved with a minority stake, and he is still a mayoral candidate in the local elections in May. He also has various commercial interests in the area, again through his university, such as the construction of a wellness centre, a private clinic and possibly the reconstruction of the Ternana stadium.