Women and Complaints: Sigfrido Ranucci's Fiery Summer

Francesco Filini, a member of parliament for the Brothers of Italy party and leader of the RAI Oversight Committee, challenged this: "While Sigfrido Ranucci threatens to sue anyone, including magistrates, to defend himself, the news reports never show him filing a complaint against Valter Lavitola, who confessed to having a bomb placed under his house. An inexplicable and paradoxical act. The question is simple: why?"

While waiting for the investigation to run its course and for his fate at RAI to be decided by the top brass, Sigfrido Ranucci continues his tour of Italy to present his book, "The Return of the Caste." "Thank you for being here despite having lost credibility," said the Report host in Asiago, in the province of Vicenza, this afternoon during the "Aperitivo con l'autore by Brazzale" event.

"I've been dealing with these things since 2000, when I found Borsellino's tape and they asked for my dismissal," Ranucci says, referring to the attacks against him. But at the time, "there was a gentleman at RAI named Zaccaria who defended me. And then the investigations ended with the case being shelved."

Ranucci emphasized: "The biggest problem with this new wave is the pain I have to endure from those close to me these days. For two and a half months now, I've been averaging 200 articles a day, two-thirds of which are full of falsehoods, even from newspapers you wouldn't expect. Obviously, I can't waste my time denying everything because that would be impossible." However, "the only blessing is that in a few weeks my son will become a lawyer."

In the audience, alongside Corrado Augias, was the mayor of Asiago, Roberto Rigoni Stern: the lawyer of Adriano Cappellari, the young man under investigation in Enego for staging an arson attack against himself, at the culmination of months of tension that began—according to Cappellari—with a Report story whose editor had been contacted by the 21-year-old himself.

"I greet my friend Sigfrido, who's returning to Asiago," said Rigoni Stern, a Forza Italia candidate in last year's regional elections. When he hinted that "perhaps next year he'll be back with us with some more cultural initiatives," Ranucci, who had stepped down from the stage to greet him, interrupted: "Maybe I have more time," he quipped. "I don't think it'll be that easy to kick you out," Rigoni Stern replied.