Italy: End of the Road for Berlusconi · Global Voices
Ylenia Gostoli

This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.
At the end of a dramatic week in its recent history, Italy has witnessed what many of its citizens thought they'd never live to see: after 17 years in power, Silvio Berlusconi, the country's embattled prime minister, handed in his resignation last Saturday.
Last Tuesday, Berlusconi's coalition lost its majority after a crucial budget vote, and the country needed to calm the financial markets in order to keep interest rates on sovereign debt under control. On Monday morning (14 November), the economist Mario Monti formally began consultations as head of the new technical government, backed by most of the country's political and financial players.
“Thank you Napolitano” and “Finally”, read the signs held up by the protesters who had surrounded all the main political buildings in Rome: Palazzo Grazioli, Palazzo Chigi, Montecitorio, Quirinale [it]. Outside Berlusconi's private residence, a choir was singing the Halleluja.
After the Senate approved stability measures [it] with a wide majority of 380 to 26 on Saturday afternoon, a crowd gathered in front of the Palazzo del Quirinale, where at 8.30pm Berlusconi was expected to formally hand in his resignation to the President Giorgio Napolitano. On his arrival, the crowd jeered and shouted “Buffoon”, as shown in this video. Italians took to the streets in Milan too, where they sung adaptations of Italian stadium anthems waving national flags, as shown in the video below:
Slogans include “resignations”, “mafioso”, as well as a number of references to the many trials against the former prime minister: “in jail”, “are you going to arrest him or not?”, and “we have a dream in our heart: seeing Berlusca at San Vittore” [an infamous prison in Milan], as if his resignation could suddenly repeal amnesty laws and resume trials that had been invalidated by the statute of limitations. Someone sings the popular WWII partisan song Bella Ciao and the national anthem. The crowd waits for Berlusconi's return after his meeting with the President, but he leaves from a side exit.
Online reactions
On Twitter, the most popular hashtags were #finecorsa (end of the road),  #maipiù (never again) and #graziegiorgio (thank you Giorgio):
@ezekiel: Il centro di Roma è in modalità “vittoria ai mondiali”: gente avvolta nel tricolore ecc. #maipiù #finecorsa
@Neclord: E domattina tricolore appena lavato e stirato alla finestra! #maipiù #finecorsa
@fabiux: Questa sera il bungabunga te l'abbiamo fatto noi. #finecorsa
Someone threw coins at Berlusconi, an act reminiscent of the fall from grace of another well-known Italian politician, Bettino Craxi, following the “mani pulite” (clean hands) corruption scandal in early 1990s. On Twitter, many alluded to this historic episode.
@civati [it] writes:
Stasera non gli tireranno monetine ma Buoni del Tesoro. #maipiù
@tomasoledda [it] adds:
Nessuno lancia monetine per via della #crisi. #graziegiorgio #finecorsa
On Facebook, there were several attempts at organising the celebrations in a number of Italian cities [it]. Just before Berlusconi stepped into the Quirinale palace, Luca Cuman [it] wrote on a page titled “Party for Berlusconi's resignation”:
Fra pochi minuti si concretizza la seconda “Liberazione d'Italia” proponiamo il 12/11 come FESTA NAZIONALE!!!!!!
Celebrations in front of Congress buiding
On the “liberation day” issue, @tigella [it] draws attention to the fact that the day might be better compared to when Mussolini was arrested in 1943, only to be freed shortly after to form a puppet state in the north of Italy, than to liberation by partisan forces on April 25, two years later:
[ci tengo a ribadire] oggi è il 25 luglio, non il 25 aprile: occhi aperti!
Likewise, @Groucho68 [it] ironically addresses the fact that the Berlusconi era might not be over quite yet:
Se ne va, ma convinto di risorgere il terzo giorno. #finecorsa
Despite Saturday's celebrations then, concern about the profound political and economic crisis that engulfs the country is manifest in both the street and the web. In Rome, as well as the Hallelujah and the national anthem, one could hear “kick the banks out of the State”. Last Friday however, the hashtag #rimontiamo (“let's rise back up”, anagram of Mario Monti) was a top trend on Twitter, symptom of a general consensus that the Monti medicine, however bitter, might be necessary.
The journalist @sandroruotolo [it] writes:
#rimontiamo. Oggi si dimette Berlusconi. E’ un bel giorno per l'Italia. Adesso tocca a Monti. Speriamo che ce la faccia. God Save Italy!!!
@ggrch [it] writes:
Italiani godiamoci questa notte perché da domani c'è da ricostruire l'Italia #rimontiamo #finecorsa
Others, such as the student network Rete della Conoscenza (The Knowledge Network), are less optimistic. Referring to the expected cuts to the education budget that the government has been planning to implement, @reteconoscenza [it] tweets:
Si annuncia un'infornata di bocconiani al governo. Nelle università pubbliche non c'è niente da festeggiare… #nosaycat #maipiù
Similarly, the anonymous blogger of  One Big Onion [it] reflects on the implications of a technocratic government imposed by the markets and the EU:
Dice che Berlusconi oggi se ne va. Non staremo certo qui a rimpiangerlo noi, quelli di Genova, i compagni di Carlo e dei ragazzi che stavano alla Diaz e a Bolzaneto (…)
Facciamo a questo punto una proposta, oltre al pareggio di bilancio nella costituzione ci mettiamo una regola per cui quando lo spread sale di oltre 500 punti da Bruxelles e Berlino ci mandano un commissario della Goldman Sachs come premier. Oppure che la Trilaterale con un decreto di urgenza ci vende anche Palazzo Madama assieme ai beni dello Stato da mettere all’asta.
On Sunday 13 November, Italians woke up in the #doposilvio (literally, after-Silvio). Simona Melani's blog [it] grasps the tone of many of the online conversations on such an crucial day in the history of the country:
Stavolta proviamo a metterci a correre, noi che abbiamo 20, 30 anni. Facciamo sì che queste dimissioni siano l’inizio simbolico della nostra Italia e non la fine di un incubo. Perchè se ci rilassiamo, l’incubo continuerà. (…)
Tocca a noi, corriamo, con le borse pesanti sulle spalle perchè c’è un sacco di lavoro da fare. La prima cosa da rimettere in piedi è la Politica. Senza pupazzi di gommapiuma e imitatori da Bagaglino. Stavolta tocca a noi. Alziamo il culo dalla sedia. Twitter lo possiamo aggiornare dallo smartphone, mentre finalmente corriamo per costruire un Paese, con la presunzione gioiosa di essere migliori di quello che abbiamo visto negli ultimi anni.
It’ s the end of the world (as we know it). Abbiamo 5 minuti 5 di felicità. Mettiamoci al lavoro, finalmente.
This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.