Franceschini: "I have Parkinson’s. A terrible ‘blow’, but we must not isolate ourselves"

“I have Parkinson’s. I was diagnosed in November 2020. It was a terrible blow.” Dario Franceschini makes living with the disease public for the first time. He does it to send a message to those who experience the same condition as him. In an interview with Corriere della Sera, the Democratic representative explains that “those affected by Parkinson’s tend to feel ashamed. They speak badly, slur, or walk staggering, looking like a drunk. Others are shaken by an uncontrollable tremor. It is essential not to get discouraged, to wake up in the morning with something to accomplish. To try to fight Parkinson’s, in addition to drugs, it is crucial to be able to fill your days and repeat to yourself: I don’t give up, I continue to live, to be there”, he insists. “It’s clear that speaking publicly about my illness costs me a lot. But I thought about it for a long time: and, weighing the pros and cons, I convinced myself that it is right to describe this particular season of my life. To tell all the other Parkinson’s sufferers: don’t isolate yourself, keep living.”

Franceschini: “My relationship with politics has changed”

The disease, bends the senator ed former Minister of Culture“has also changed his relationship with politics: “It eliminates personal ambitions, it makes you lose that sense of invincibility that the politician is supposed to convey, showing that he has, almost by definition, no weaknesses, fears, fragility.” Despite this, Franceschini continues to be involved in politics: “Parkinson’s affects the body, not the cognitive abilities. You reduce the pace of work, you adapt it. But I continued, and continue, with phone calls, meetings, meetings.”

Bettini, an act of courage from Franceschini. Serves like bread

“Dario Franceschini is a great politician. Disclosing a difficult health condition is an act of honesty and courage. His intelligence, as long as he wants it, serves like bread for the Democratic Party and Italian democracy. We have the obligation to know how to use it. Franceschini is also a friend, one of the dearest to me.” Goffredo Bettini wrote this on social networks, commenting on Dario Franceschini’s interview with Corriere della Sera, in which the former minister declared that he suffers from Parkinson’s. “Behind the technique of politics lives a pulsating world of faith, of feelings, of memories, of passions that emerges in his novels. There is in him a disenchantment for certain aspects of the world, or perhaps a counterpoint that recalls life, his own and that of others, which he also thinks about in this beautiful interview by Roncone; inviting people who have his illness to react and fight. I wish my dear friend infinite strength”, adds Bettini.