Overview
- During a school inauguration in Irpinia, Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said Piersanti Mattarella was killed by the Red Brigades.
- A video of the remark spread online with no immediate on-the-spot correction reported.
- Questioned later by ANSA, Valditara called the mistake a lapsus and said he had repeatedly described Mattarella as a victim of the mafia.
- He condemned the sharing of the clip as “ignoble sciacallaggio,” or shameful exploitation, and defended his broader remarks.
- The error is sensitive because Piersanti, brother of Italy’s president, was assassinated by mafia clans in 1980, not by the left-wing Red Brigades.