“I swear I never thought I would have to publish an article like this.” It is with these words that Valentina Palli, mayor of Russi (Ravenna), accompanies the video published on social networks in which we see the geologist Claudio Miccoli making sexist comments towards her. During a public meeting on the flood of May 2023, the geologist remembers a meeting he had with the mayor of Russi, who recalls this: “Perhaps she was suffering from an attack of depression postpartum because saying something like that means she doesn't have complete mental balance at that time. Valentina Palli's response was immediate, publicly denouncing the episode with a video posted on her social networks: “I wonder why in 2024 we women still have to be subjected to this unprecedented and unacceptable level of violence” , admits Palli. Russi's first citizen also announces that she intends to take legal action against Miccoli, “not only to protect me but to protect all women.”
Solidarity with the mayor
The president of the Emilia-Romagna Region, Stefano Bonaccini, also expressed his closeness with the mayor of Russi: “Maximum solidarity in my name and that of the regional council with Mayor Valentina Palli. The insults are always hateful, but the sexist aggravation with which the mayor, the institution closest to the citizens of the neighborhood, was attacked makes them even more execrable. Bonaccini then describes the comments made by Claudio Miccoli as “unacceptable” and “in contradiction with civil life”. The Order of Geologists of Emilia-Romagna is also on the same line, publishing a note in which it expresses its “total disapproval” of Miccoli's behavior. “It hurts to listen to certain statements addressed to a woman – comments Paride Antolini, president of the Regional Order of Geologists -. We distance ourselves from the sentences that would have been expressed, formulated and publicly declared by a geologist with regard to the mayor.
Cover photo/video: Facebook/Valentina Palli
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