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The strange couple Ranucci-Lavitola and the forbidden dream of entering the corridors of power

2026-08-10 18:26:10Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Ranucci-Lavitola

Francesco Bei – La Repubblica

Valter dreamed of making Sigfrido leader of a broad center-left coalition. “When you arrive at Palazzo Chigi, I will be your Gianni Letta.”

At the end of this sad story, as Vasco Rossi said, perhaps someone will find the courage to explain how it was possible, in what parallel universe it could have happened that the prince of investigative journalism, Sigfrido Ranucci, ended up in a close relationship with the prince of intrigue: Valter Lavitola. They sat at the same table, shared confidential conversations, projects, friendships, family and who knows what else.

The Richelieu of the Mascarenes, the most comical and tragic character at the end of the era of Craxi and then Berlusconi, the very symbol — perhaps even more than his real weight justified — of that muddy political underground in Rome, which you only need to dig a little, and it immediately comes to the surface.

It is precisely the unusual Ranucci-Lavitola couple that stands out the most in this story, beyond the criminal aspects, the characters reminiscent of a western "alla italiana", like the Avelino gang, the real bombs and the fish risotto in Monteverde Vecchio, as well as the extraordinary accusation of mafia massacre that prosecutors have brought against him. An accusation that risks sending "Valterino" behind bars, and not just for four years like last time.

The official version, which Ranucci himself has told those who have contacted him, is that it all started with the first contacts in 2019, after several investigations by Report that also mentioned Lavitola. According to this version, it was Lavitola who approached the journalist. Ranucci did not reject him, on the contrary. Lavitola was a charming man – something that, according to the article, everyone admits – and he established a relationship with Ranucci.

Then, one thing led to another. Lavitola knew a lot about a lot of people, or at least knew how to sell it well as information. His restaurant, “Cefalù Bistrot,” was said to have been a meeting point for spies, journalists, politicians, and clergy. And those who know how to listen, like Lavitola, according to the article, learn a lot, meet a lot of people, and then pass it on to others.

Ranucci confirms today that Lavitola had become one of his sources of information. According to him, he helped him in some investigations, perhaps searching in places that an official Report journalist would not have been able to enter.

Over time, the friendship expanded to include families and children. Lavitola worked at the restaurant's cash register, where he had created a new profession and had taken on, like the character Zelig, another role in his life. "How fresh they are, only here you can find these shrimps, I bring them myself," he boasted to customers. But, in the meantime, he continued to dream, beyond the decorative plates that imitated the Sicilian style and beyond the counters with red tuna and swordfish.

"Since I was a child, I have dreamed of becoming a deputy," Lavitola confessed in an interview with Repubblica about two years ago, where he returned to his career as a "real bandit," as he defined himself.

So, beyond cooking fish and risotto, which he said he learned in prison from Cicirinella, the man he considered his mentor and at the same time his curse, his true passion was politics, or more precisely, power.

It was this dream that initially made him a supporter of Craxi and then led him to Berlusconi, as a man who solved dirty jobs and organized the darkest projects: from discrediting Gianfranco Fini with documents created in Saint Lucia for the ownership of the apartment in Monte Carlo, to bribing deputies to overthrow the Prodi government, organizing escorts with Tarantini for Berlusconi and even blackmailing the "Cavalier" himself, reminding him of the promise of a position in the government, in the European Parliament or at least on the board of directors of RAI. According to the interview, he later said that he was not proud of these actions.

The final idea, the grand illusion of returning to the stage through the main door, was something that Lavitola – the ex-convict and the outcast – had thought about for a long time and had worked out in detail. At the center of this plan was precisely Sigfrido Ranucci.

While preparing seafood risotto in the kitchen of his restaurant in Monteverde, Lavitola imagined the Report boss as the man who could save the center-left from the Schlein-Conte clash. According to the article, he believed Ranucci had the charisma to win the election and go to Palazzo Chigi as prime minister. He is said to have even commissioned polls and consulted experts. “When you become prime minister, I will be your Gianni Letta,” Lavitola would tell Ranucci over dinner.

Today, before his questioning, Lavitola told his friends that he is innocent. He denies betraying his "brotherly friend", Sigfrido Ranucci, and says he is the victim of a great mistake.

Lavitola also exonerates Clesio Tavarez Gomes, the former Cameroonian bodyguard, who, according to the article, never actually worked at his restaurant, even though he appears on the employee list. For Lavitola, Clesio is like a son. He says it is not true that he fled to Africa and that he will return, as he always has.

According to Lavitola, the only project they had together was about making money through carbon credits, nothing more. Not about exploding cars, which according to the article could have really caused a massacre, since they were vehicles with LPG plants. Just the thought of it, he claims, causes him heartache.

In the end, Lavitola insists that he is not the mastermind of the assassination. He swears on the most precious thing he has and expresses his conviction that the prosecutors were wrong, neglecting other leads.

But what if everything were true? Then the possible motives would have to be examined, returning precisely to the project that Lavitola, according to the article, was persistently pursuing: to transform Ranucci into the leader of the broad center-left coalition.

According to the author, such a plan could be jeopardized by the possible closure of the show, due to the will of the right. From here, the hypothesis of a staged assassination is put forward, with the aim of making Ranucci appear as a victim of the mafia. Who would dare to touch him then? A crime, yes, but a crime of friendship, committed out of love, but the truth will probably be revealed by Lavitola herself in a few years.


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