From chats to railway stopovers, to the PGT and the stadium: the investigation papers show pressure, negotiations and caution inside Palazzo Marino
The cards of the urban planning of Milan do not tell only building practices and ordinances, but also report reserved chats and exchanges that reveal the pressures around Palazzo Marino and the habit, between councilors and managers, to call the mayor “The boss”. In one of these, in July 2022, Luca Mangia (General Manager of Coima) wrote to his superior Manfredi Catella by proposing to “intervene directly on the room” to unlock a practice on railway stopovers. A piece that, together with the Leoncavallo dossier, the turning point on the government plan of the area and to the future of the San Siro stadium, composes the mosaic of a city governed between urban planning pressures, political lines, tactics and precautions.
The Leoncavallo case and the Cascina Nosedo hypothesis
The theme of Leoncavallo appears already in November 2021, when the general manager Christian Malangone writes to the councilor for urban regeneration, Giancarlo Tancredi, of the hypothesis of an agreement with the Cabassi, the owners of the area, followed by the Prefecture. In 2022 Tancredi brought his line to the verbal: «We had discarded the direct recognition option of public interest by the junta for Leoncavallo. I see it impractical. I would ban as for Macao. Of course, for Leonka it is a risk ». But even then we think about a more protected alternative: urban enslavement, a constraint that would have allowed to ban the property with addresses set by the Municipality. “I would propose enslavement and tender”, writes the commissioner, “who on the other hand will have to recognize the property as a service”.
After the sentence of November 2024 which obliges the Interior Ministry to compensate over three million to the cabassi for the lack of eviction, the parallel negotiation is tightened. Tancredi warns Malangone that the possible options – appeal, agreement, eviction – already circulate with too much precision, fearing a news escape. In December, after visiting the Leoncavallo during the “Terra Trema” review, he writes that the structure “is very different from that of years ago” and openly proposes a relocation: “I would give it a farmhouse. And Cascina Nosedo, for some time for us out of control, is perfect. I told the boss that I am looking for a farmhouse ». When Malangone reminds him of the projects that have been blocked in that area, Tancredi insists: «Let’s solve a problem. And Leonka at the Corvetto, responsible and regularized, is interesting. ” A few days later he adds: «I asked Farina (Daniele historic leader of Leonka, editor’s note) to give us feedback by Friday. Then I would like to ask the Prefect by meeting by Christmas. If the boss agrees ». It is the sign of a path other than that of Macao which, after ten years at the former slaughterhouse in Viale Molise, was cleared on November 25, 2022. There were no parallel negotiations there: the area was destined for the maxi-checking “Scalo Porta Vittoria-Macello” and the intervention of the Municipality and the local police was clear, without relocations. For Leoncavallo, however, the chats show a direct and privileged channel with the institutions, ready to sew a customized solution.
The front of the local government plan
Another vein concerns the local government plan. Everything starts on November 6, 2023, when the prosecutor opens a file on the transformations of Piazza Aspromonte. Already months earlier, on May 25, Tancredi wrote in the Sala: «He also procures this morning from us … and everything revolves around Aspromonte. Now they ask why we made him monetize charges/standard. A big problem, because it is difficult to explain the total regularity of everything. Depressed offices ». It is the climate that then accompanies the formal opening of the investigation. In December 2023 Tancredi wrote in Sala: «On the PGT the comparison with Regina de Albertis and entrepreneurs is currently tense. I would remain firm on a social -oriented line (home, etc.) and to give strong signals to the prosecutor ». The mayor not only encourages him, but supports him openly: «Hold on. De Albertis is already in the election campaign ». The rupture explodes on December 20, when the president of Assimpredil Ance attacks the columns of the courier: “ancient visions, so the development is held back”. A few hours later Tancredi writes that he intends to replicate and receives a dry go -ahead from the “boss”: “You have to do it». The councilor, the next day, signs the official reply: «The manufacturers make the victims after years of growth. No to new skyscrapers ». The chats also show the mayor’s caution on the management of relations with the press. At the end of January 2024, when Tancredi proposes an interview to explain the line of the municipality, Sala brakes: «Better a letter rather than an interview. Precisely because, if they ask you the question about the blocking of the practices and the question is there, you risk answering clumsyly ».
Retractable messages and alarm climate
And it is precisely in those days, on March 4, 2024, that a revealing detail appears. In full judicial storm, with the urban investigation that shakes Palazzo Marino and the spotlight on each choice, the mayor’s phone records an update: the WhatsApp messages set to disappear after seven days. A caution of caution that may seem trivial but that tells the alarm climate of those weeks. A few days later, on April 9, a laconic “ok solved” closes an exchange between room and its commissioner: two words that mark the need to manage emergencies without leaving too many tracks.
The San Siro front and the alienations node
The third front is that of San Siro. On November 11, 2024, during a fiery session of the city council, the manager Simona Collarini wrote in Chat with Tancredi and Malangone: “But do they all pretend not to know that they voted for the sale years ago?”. These are the hours when Sala speaks in the classroom, between whistles and disputes of the committees. «What a struggle to listen to all these lies. I will never get used to it », adds Collarini. Malangone replies “exactly”. Tancredi asks if the “GFU” (large urban function) had already been approved: “Sure”, replies the manager, also recalling the provision of building indexes and large sales structures.
In reality San Siro is not “already sold”: it has been included in the 2019 alienations plan, but each sale requires a specific resolution of the Council and the 2000 resolution that prohibits the sale of the stadium remains in force until it hosts public events such as Inter and Milan matches.
