A year has passed since the death of Silvio Berlusconi, it was June 12, 2023. For the occasion, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT), led by Matteo Salvini, sent a letter to the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (Enac) in which he requests that the Milan-Linate airport be named after the former president of the Council of Ministers and founder of the political party Forza Italia. 

The mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala, is clearly against it: "No exceptions, it's impossible. I repeat, respect for the person but we won't make exceptions. I've said it several times so let's remain on this position". For the mayor, the airport must remain named after Enrico Forlanini, officer, inventor, aviation pioneer, engineer and entrepreneur who invented the hydrofoil.

But what exceptions is Sala referring to? The Italian law requires that 10 years have passed since the death of an illustrious person in order to name a public place after a prominent personality. The naming, however, can start either on a proposal from the Municipalities or on an initiative of the government agency. This is therefore why the ministry wrote to Enac, whose decision would allow it to circumvent the opposition of the mayor of Milan.

The proposal to name the airport after Berlusconi was started last year by the former mayor of Milan, Gabriele Albertini, but at the moment Enac has not taken any decision. Even the former president of the Lombardy Region, Roberto Formigoni, took to the field, recalling that: "Berlusconi and I created the modern Malpensa, him as Prime Minister, me as President of the Region".