Licio Gelli and the referendum: why the ghost of the Venerable continues to divide Italy

Those who frequent the corridors of power in Rome know it well: there are ghosts that never go away. And among them, the most cumbersome, the most elegant, the most elusive, remains always him: Licio Gelli. The Venerable Master of the P2 Lodge is not just a chapter of national history closed within the pages of textbooks. Today, in March 2026, just days before the justice referendum, his name has once again become a wild card in public debate. And not for posthumous celebrations, but for an uncomfortable truth: the Plan for Democratic Rebirth, that document which dreamed of rewriting the rules of the State, seems to have become, for many, a prophecy.

The son, the minister and the 'copyright' of history

It all started with an interview that did the rounds of the talk shows. Maurizio Gelli, Licio's son, with a calmness that chilled many to the bone, explained that his father would have looked with extreme favour upon the current reform of the judiciary. 'My father was far-sighted,' he declared, sparking the ire of the No campaign. Marco Travaglio, in his presentations, was scathing: this is a reform whose 'noble father' is precisely the Venerable. And Giuseppe Conte, now accustomed to wielding the populist stamp, upped the ante by speaking of a 'copyright' of Licio Gelli over the entire referendum framework.

But the issue is more subtle than a simple invocation. Because on the other side, Minister Carlo Nordio, with that phlegm of a Venetian inquisitor, had already given as good as he got: if an idea is right, it doesn't matter who thought of it first. 'I don't see why we shouldn't follow a correct opinion just because he said it,' he repeated on several occasions, causing an uproar. And here's the rub. Because even if it's true that the separation of careers was indeed a point of the Plan, anyone who has read that document knows it was placed in a very different context: the public prosecutor was supposed to end up under the executive, and the CSM was supposed to answer to Parliament. A not insignificant difference, which, however, in the vortex of political polemic, is systematically swept away.

The toxic legacy of an anniversary

We live in a strange period, where anniversaries overlap. In recent weeks, there has been much talk of Anniversaries: Licio Gelli's Italy, almost as if to come to terms with a country that no longer exists. But the truth is that Gelli's Italy, that of occult plots, deviated services, and fixers, has never completely disappeared. It has only evolved. Today, while the centre-left rends its garments evoking the spectre of the P2 to stop the vote, there are those, like the frontman of the League in Castelfiorentino, who invite us to stick to the substance, avoiding 'ideological positions'.

Yet, the shadow of the Venerable is so long that even Nino Di Matteo, at a rally, had to admit that the game is dirty: 'The mafiosi will vote Yes,' he said, causing an uproar, but adding that they will do so because they feel legitimised by those who want to put a leash on magistrates. Strong words, which led the Quirinale to invite everyone to lower the tone. But the die is cast. The referendum is no longer just about justice: it is a referendum on who has the right to tell the story of this country.

The business behind the myth

And here we come to the point that we analysts are most interested in. Outside the courtrooms and talk shows, there is a market in turmoil. Sales of essays analysing the phenomenon, such as those in the series Miti nella Poesia - Licio Gelli - Laterza Giuseppe Edizioni, are literally exploding. The figure of Gelli, now accepted as the archetype of 'shadow power', sells. It sells books, it sells investigations, it sells clicks. And it also sells a certain idea of justice-oriented rebellion that, paradoxically, fuels both sides.

For those investing in political communication, the lesson is clear:

• Symbolic storytelling beats technicalities: evoking Gelli or the P2 triggers an immediate emotional response that no data on trial speed can ever match.
• Polarisation is an annuity: the tougher the clash, the more advertising space and newspaper subscriptions are sold. The 'Gelli case' is the perfect mudslinging machine, but it is also the perfect cash machine.
• Short memory is a resource: few remember the details of the Plan for Democratic Rebirth, but everyone remembers the word 'P2'. That alone is enough to shift votes and create factions.

Looking beyond the next voting Sunday, I expect that, regardless of the outcome, this referendum round will mark a turning point. For the first time in decades, the ghost of Licio Gelli has been evoked not as an archaeological find, but as an active protagonist of the political debate. Whether the Yes or No wins, the right or the left, one thing is certain: the Venerable, from his exile in South America first and from the grave later, has won his most important battle: still being, after all these years, the fulcrum of Italian public debate. And in a country that never comes to terms with its past, this, for goodness' sake, is not news.