Bibbiano, clash after the sentencing: "Meloni and Di Maio must apologize."

Bibbiano (Reggio Emilia), July 10, 2025 – “ If you have any dignity, apologize. And now, yes: tell us about Bibbiano.” The unflinching attack by European Parliament member and former governor of Emilia-Romagna , Stefano Bonaccini , aimed in particular at Giorgia Meloni, Matteo Salvini, and Luigi Di Maio , sums up the center-left's thinking in the aftermath of the first-instance verdict in the 'Angels and Demons' affair .

Federica Anghinolfi was head of social services. Alongside, Giorgia Meloni protested in Bibbiano years ago.

Ma il pronunciamento del tribunale di Reggio, che ha smontato il castello accusatorio della Procura sul fatto che nella zona della Val d'Enza vi fossero, in seno ai servizi sociali, « ladri di bambin i» che li toglievano alle famiglie per lucrare vantaggi economici, non ha fermato lo scontro tra centrodestra e centrosinistra, che va avanti fin dal 2019. Il crollo del teorema degli inquirenti, sotto il peso di 11 assoluzioni e 3 lievi condanne, con pena sospesa, per reati minori (nei confronti di Federica Anghinolfi , ex responsabile dei servizi sociali della Val d'Enza, della neuropsichiatra Flaviana Murru e dell'assistente sociale Francesco Monopoli), semmai lo ha di nuovo riacceso. Six years ago, then-MP Giorgia Meloni led the Brothers of Italy (FdI) in Bibbiano, shouting, "We're the first to arrive, we'll be the last to leave," and Luigi di Maio, a Five Star Movement leader, thundered, "I want nothing to do with the Bibbiano party that in Emilia used electroshock therapy to remove children from their families and sell them." The center-left rallied around Mayor Andrea Carletti and social workers. After the statement made 48 hours ago, the tables have turned.

"Hours pass , but Meloni's silence on Bibbiano continues. Yet we remember her well, then an opposition MP and accuser," says Democratic Party secretary Elly Schlein . "In the meantime, the first-instance ruling has arrived, dismantling the prosecution's case. However, this doesn't erase the vulgar propaganda, the damage and pain inflicted on an entire community, on the administrators involved and later acquitted, on the child protection system, and on professionals like social workers. Let's hope that now that she's gone, she's not the last to apologize. She should have been the first." A similar request comes from Democratic Party regional secretary Luigi Tosiani, while for Italia Viva leader Matteo Renzi , "the trial has demonstrated that a squalid theory was constructed in Bibbiano due to the responsibility of certain political forces. Meloni and Di Maio are the two main culprits. If they had a shred of dignity, they would simply tweet: 'Sorry, we exploited this.'"

On the other side, Senator Marco Lisei of the Brothers of Italy party calls it a "ridiculous left, celebrating as if they'd won the lottery; the ruling doesn't change one iota our assessment of the unworthy methods and decisions adopted in that context. That conduct discredited all serious social workers; we are proud to have denounced it then, as we are to denounce it today."