by Giacomo Chiorino*
I thought about it quite a bit to decide what to write in what will be my last article composed in 2024: a summary of what happened on the financial markets in the year just ended? An Investment Outlook for 2025? Definitely not. Thousands of pages have been published on the subject in recent weeks which mostly say the same things; I thought Christian Family readers wanted more. So I asked myself if there was a person in Italy who was useful in the year just ended, who politely carried out his role, who reassured us with his example. And yes, I was reminded of him, our President Sergio Mattarella, who turned 83 on 23 July, who made his speech to the nation yesterday and who at the end of January 2025 “celebrates” ten years in his important role.
The financial group for which I work rightly avoids any position in the political field and in fact I will not talk about politics but about Sergio Mattarella the man. A President who has his daughter Laura as “first lady”, this in itself is a beautiful thing and almost unique in the world panorama; daughter who accompanies him everywhere, advises him, “protects” him, always staying one step behind. Reconciling institutional commitments and family given that she is married and has three children. Why is it nice to have “a Mattarella” as President? Because in a world where protagonism and personal interest reign supreme, where the boundary between political role and doing business is extremely blurred, where the concept of being “at the service of the state and the nation” almost no longer exists, where everything is allowed, the figure of the head of state is an exception, certainly almost “ancient”, but in my opinion very, very beautiful. It’s true, the role of a president in countries where he also embodies an “executive” power such as a Macron in France, a Biden in the United States, a Lula in Brazil, a Subianto in Indonesia, is different, it is more decisive, let’s say it as well, it is theoretically more important.
However, precisely for this reason and for his iron moral rigor, Mattarella can intervene and “reprimand” those who do not respect the rules of the Constitution, those who force their hand, those who go out of line. His “addressing words” during the (countless) political crises we have experienced was fundamental. Another important role it plays is to represent our country around the world, to talk about the merits and excellences of Italy, to be our image wherever it goes. A serious image, always up to the task, respected. In his first seven-year mandate (2015 > 2021) he made 48 trips abroad and had 235 meetings with representatives of foreign states or international organizations (Openpolis graphic source based on Quirinale data). And it has been maintaining even higher rates in recent years. Sergio Mattarella is a very private person, but he has three passions that make him very human: his grandchildren, sport and Persian cats. This is also why Italians love and respect him.
*Head of market analysis at Banca Patrimoni Sella
