Overview
- Mattarella, who spent Monday in Milan, joined a Renzo Piano teaching session at the Politecnico before attending the anniversary concert at Teatro alla Scala.
- He told students that constant self‑checking is essential in public life, calling doubt a key ingredient of democracy and saying politicians should listen more to build peace.
- Riccardo Chailly led La Scala’s orchestra and chorus in selections from Verdi’s Nabucco, including Va, pensiero, with soloists Michele Pertusi and Francesco Meli, ending with a shouted “Viva Verdi” from the upper gallery.
- The audience greeted the president with a standing ovation as he took a seat in the stalls, while guests included Senate president Ignazio La Russa, Milan mayor Giuseppe Sala, Lombardy governor Attilio Fontana and life senator Liliana Segre.
- Sala framed the ceremony as a forward‑looking civic pledge to defend democratic norms, invoking the 1946 reopening led by Arturo Toscanini after wartime bombings as a model of shared reconstruction.