He died this morning in Rome Silvio of France, was 69 years old. In Latina he had been councilor for culture in the council of Damiano Coletta, called by the Lbc civic movement to give an impression and even a little sprint to the cultural policies of the Pontine capital, but behind him he had a long political career in the capital.
A professional journalist, he had been a municipal councilor of the Greens in 1993, in 2001 he was the majority coordinator in Walter Veltroni’s syndicature, then president of Zetema and then councilor for cultural policies of the Municipality of Rome. He was a huge judo enthusiast who had practiced at the highest levels and had been appointed president of the Lazio Regional Committee of the Fijlkam (Italian Federation of Judo, Wrestling and Karate).
He had arrived in Latina in June 2018. He had entered the council after the resignation of councilor Di Muro. That day he had said: “I’ll go around a lot, the doors in the department will be open, but I won’t start making promises today, or saying I’ll do this or that”. That summer, presenting the Calcutta concert at the Francioni, he had said that «big events shouldn’t be suffered, but welcomed», then with the modesty that was typical of him he had belittled his role saying that everything was already planned when he arrived (” I found myself in the right place at the right time”. In reality, he had led the councilorship from the very beginning with clear ideas and ambitious goals. He had been held back only and only by the closure of the Teatro D’Annunzio: he had found it unusable and had succeeded to use it practically never.The evening with Popolizio and Orsini and Loiodice who brought the wonderful Copenhagen to Latina remains in the memory.
The great friendship between Di Francia and Pennacchi remains from those years. On the day of the funeral home it was Di Francia who welcomed the president of the Region, Nicola Zingaretti, for the last farewell to the funeral home. He had organized a conference for Pennacchi, “Latina yesterday, today and tomorrow”, dedicated to the city’s identity. For the occasion, the most important literary critics and linguists were called together to discuss the literary work of Antonio Pennacchi “who has made our city a literary place, also thanks to the victory of the Strega Prize in 2010”. The proceedings of that conference have become an essay entitled “Lungo Canale Mussolini, Antonio Pennacchi and his work”, published by Mondadori and edited by Professor Rino Caputo. «A great satisfaction – Di Francia said at the time – but also the honor of being able to write a few lines of greeting and introduction to a book taken from a conference which for once denies the ancient aphorism of ‘nemo propheta in patria’. Pennacchi is literally Latina, formerly Littoria, formerly Cancello del Quadrato and the fact that his walks in the city are part of the daily life of those who live there make him not a successful writer but a fellow citizen to be proud of».
He had had to leave Latina due to the onset of the disease. After the last tiring months in which he had remained with great tenacity in his place at the end of the consiliatura he had chosen to take a step back.
But relations with Latina had remained very close, as evidenced by the memories that friends are posting on social networks. «Bewilderment, emotion, pain, so much pain. The news of Silvio Di Francia’s death saddened me deeply – the former mayor wrote on Facebook Damiano Coletta – A person with whom I shared an important part of my journey as mayor of the city of Latina is leaving. They were years in which I was able to appreciate the man Silvio, but also his political qualities, his administrative skills ».
“A man – wrote the former mayor – who lived on bread and sport, on bread and politics, on bread and culture: a combination that made him a unique person, with whom it was impossible not to confront, even harshly, even arguing, but always with the aim of finding a synthesis». And above all: «he was able to see beyond the everyday, opening up to young people and new things. He was a dreamer, it’s him a vision Cambellotti Museum new, a 2.0 museum – recalls Coletta – In the most difficult moments he was an attentive interlocutor and political mediator, an administrative reference. He worked for the city and for its citizens even at the cost of making unpopular decisions. I like to remember how he shared with me the decision to close the D’Annunzio theater, now unmanageable in terms of safety: “First the protection of the spectator, the show comes later”, he told me, and then the next day he got to work so that the theater returned to being a heritage of the city. Silvio was competitive, he won many races, many battles, unfortunately the disease hit him inexorably and excruciatingly. My condolences, my pain is the pain and condolences also of those who shared the administrative path with me ».
Emilio Ranieri Silvio Di Francia remembers him like this: «You were a good friend and adviser to Silvio Di Francia, an understanding older brother, a staunch defender of our work as councilors.
“Bread is made with the flour one has”, “Knowing to deliberate”, “Asking is lawful, answering is courtesy”… and so many discussions… and you never let me talk… Emi’ you are too much Good!”. AND Gianmarco Proietti: «Hello Silvio… You had seen and foreseen a lot». Instead, this is the memory of Patrizia Ciccarelli:
Because Di Francia, among all other things, also knew how to play the guitar very well, and Alfredo Romano in fact remembers one of his performances at the Salotti Musicali.
