Saint Matilda of Hackeborn was nicknamed “God’s nightingale”. His words and advice still remain a beacon today for those who have to face the most arduous trials. In fact, the name of the visionary of Lourdes was found in the endless list of religious people who would monitor the exams of the aspirants I noticed. He is in celestial company: Saint Bernadette SoubirousSaint Catherine of Sweden, Saint Emmanuel, Saint Benjamin, Saint John Baptist de La Salle. But there are also highly venerated ones: Saint Matthias the Apostle, Saint Pancrazio or Saint Philip Neri. For every lost candidate, a little help from heaven. Behind which, in turn, could be hidden the blessed godfather who solicits otherworldly benevolence.
The novena would be a list of recommendations. They accidentally posted it on the website National Council of Notaries. The tragicomic mistake lasted a moment, but it was enough to disgrace the most difficult public examination ever. One after another, there are names and surnames of those who passed the written exams in 2024 and should now face the oral exam.
The “Novena” of the notaries and the protection of the saints in heaven
In some boxes, in addition to divine protection, we read colorful judgments: “Pretty”, “phenomenon”, “genius”, “Garibaldino”. To each his own miracle: those who were “pardoned on the commercial side” and those who were “saved on the civil side”. Enigmatic rendezvous are then reported: «Strike and dinner at Corsi wine shop». Perhaps a reference to unmissable evenings spent defining transcendental agreements. Once the arcane scammer was discovered, those excluded still went wild with accusations and appeals.
Ah, the usual Italy. Country of poets, saints in heaven and navigators. Even to name the inflexible guardians of legality. Divine protection is not denied to anyone. It is the eternal return of the most inscratchable of the tricolor vices: the nudge. Notaries, magistrates, university professors, clerks, policemen, healthcare workers… Each competition has its own reporting. Dozens of investigations reveal unspeakable favors. Every vocation must be supported from above. Burning your eyes over codes and big books is not enough. Serves the saint in heaven.
The system of nudges between the judiciary and university competitions
That too justice of the peace of Santa Maria Capua Vetere he knows it very well: «They must make me a saint! Elvira must put me at the end of the bed!» urges in an interception. On the other hand, it seems that he spent himself without reserve on his wife: “She needs to settle down, she’s of a certain age.” Therefore, he would have done his utmost with the president of the commission for the specialization competition in pharmacology atVanvitelli University. To repay his debt, he promised assignments to a cousin of the professor. Thus, the exam topics would have reached the woman in advance. But the judge’s wife leaves one of the two questions blank. So much so that the academic complains: «He could have written at least four bullshit things…». The bitter epilogue emerges in a very recent investigation into insurance scams, which involves justices of the peace and lawyers.
The category, however, seems well represented. Just another fortuitous electronic mix-up has already served to unmask a rigged competition judiciary. The thoughtful professor clarifies in an email the identifying mark to leave on the assignment. Only, again by mistake, he is sent to another commissioner.
Now, however, the referendum battle on the separation of careers is raging. The two fronts do not shy away from mutual accusations. Even the lawyer Enrico Grossopresident of the No Committee, is accused of recklessly pleading the cause of one of his illustrious clients: the president of the Aosta Valley, Renzo Testolin. During a debate on justice they catch him while talking to the president of the Court, Giuseppe Marrawho will have to evaluate an appeal on the re-election of the president.
The currents of the CSM and the vice of “I keep a family” in the academy
Outlandishness aside, even the people of Remi should have understood this: almost all important appointments to the robes are decided by the currents. Even if the custom seems so consolidated that it doesn’t even deserve a slap from the disciplinary section of the CSMwhich judges alleged wrongdoing by judges and prosecutors. See the “uncommendable association practices” of that prosecutor. Or the former CSM councilor who sponsors his colleagues. The opposing current, he grieves in a chat, “is making a steal… we can’t lose”. That other one is “the ideal candidate, who has always supported us and who we therefore really support”. The regulations, of course, do not approve. He blames “the serious unfairness towards the other magistrates who will compete, with the candidates reported for the managerial and semi-managerial positions”. It doesn’t matter. Full absolution: «Little relevance of the fact».
Among the scant sentences on the robes, there is also the story of the magistrate worried about his wife, colleague and suspect. He writes thus to the prosecutor, in charge of the investigation. He asks to move the interrogation of his wife and to “accompany her and possibly be present at the act”. It anticipates, in the same email, the non-existence of the crime they are accused of, complete with detailed regulatory references. The disciplinarians, faced with so much affection, end up capitulating. Of course, the intervention risked appearing like interference. But it was too harmless to turn into a crime, they say.
After all, as he said Leo Longanesithe national motto should be printed on the tricolor: «I keep family». No one knows this better than the now mythological university barons. Two months ago he was sentenced to five years Francesco Basileformer rector in Catania. In an interception, he explains the Etna academic philosophy on competitions: «I have one a day who comes due to a kinship problem… In the end, we are all relatives here. The university was born on a fairly narrow city basis: a kind of cultural elite, because those are always the families.” He exemplifies: the father is unreachable academic, the three children are very clearly ordinary. While in Perugia last January the former rector of theUniversity for Foreigners of PerugiaGiuliana Grego Bolli, and three other teachers.
Meritocracy trampled upon: from the Bologna tenders to the lookalikes in the Police
Not even the glorious one University of Bologna is spared. After the complaint from an aspiring researcher, it is now forced to launch a new tender. The defeated pretender boasts: doctorate, specialization, four teaching positions and nineteen scientific publications. Yet she is surpassed by a recent graduate who had done her thesis with the president of the commission. In Verona, however, the son of the former rector, Riccardo Nocinihe defeated everyone: full professor in ENT at thirty-three years old, two hundred and forty publications in seven years, the only candidate in a competition published three days after the end of his father’s mandate. Last January, however, the tender was cancelled. And the plaque that dominated the «PalaNocini»: a Biology building pompously named after the unforgettable parent, Pier Francesco.
In honor of the late Remo Gasparia very powerful DC minister from Abruzzo, wanted to erect a statue in his Gissi instead. When he was Minister of Telecommunications, it seems that he managed to accommodate droves of fellow villagers in post offices across half of Italy. The beloved “Uncle Remo”, as his fellow villagers called him, explained in one of his last interviews: “I did it for charitable purposes, without ever making any money”. He was certainly not the only one. From the archives of First republicthe heartfelt letters of the old and diligent leaders have emerged. «Mr Paolo M., from Latina, is currently applying for a job at this institution. Is it possible to please him?” he wrote Giulio Andreotti. “I attach the note relating to Mr. Ignazio S. and I ask you to show particular interest in his favor”, he detailed Oscar Luigi Scalfaro. To get to the doctor who aspires to become head of Urology at Gemelli. On the phone he pretends to be the President of the Republic: «Hello, I’m here Sergio MattarellaI would like to tell you about my nephew…”. He even attaches a fake letter of recommendation to his CV, complete with a fake Quirinale seal.
Last December, however, the police competition broke out. The physical limitations of some aspiring deputy inspectors would have been overcome by compliant visits and tests. Like the overweight candidate. Or the one that’s too low. And yet another with insurmountable back problems. But even plump, short and crippled people would have had the miracle. Moreover, an investigation by the Benevento prosecutor’s office has already revealed that any physical impediment can be easily removed. Police, Financial Police, Fire Brigade: all you need is the right support and a robust economic incentive. Young men with serious heart problems, aspirants with skyrocketing bilirubin, kids with varicocele. In the most desperate cases, the debilitated aspirants would be replaced with bold doubles, capable of easily passing the athletic tests. Even those who had unfinished business with the law could hope again. All skilled and enlisted. Now the judge will have to decide on the fate of the one hundred and thirteen suspects.
In Sicily the latest bombastic investigation into supposed favoritism in healthcare also involved Totò Cuffaroalready intent on reviving the old DC with some success. To a candidate for the health worker competition Villa Sofiain Palermo, the former governor explains: «Here are the arguments. In each envelope there will be three of these…”. He reassures: «It’s four nonsense, but you have to study it all…». But in front of the police, the very devoted Totò then admits: “I did something stupid.” Even the saints in heaven sometimes regret their acclaimed miracles.
