Massimo Giannini: the words of power

Massimo Giannini | The Words of Power Beyond the Wall Saturday, 11 October 2026 | 10:00 am | Piazza del Sole, Bellinzona Sconfinare Festival

What happens when politics no longer limits itself to governing reality, but seeks to rename it? What happens when words such as people, homeland, freedom, enemy and truth become instruments of consensus, belonging and exclusion? Public language does not merely describe the world: it shapes its direction, simplifies it and, at times, distorts it.

Massimo Giannini, one of Italy’s most respected journalists and political commentators, has spent years observing the transformations of democracy, power and information. In his latest book, La Sciamana. Meloni, l’ultima trumpista: fenomenologia della destra illiberale (Rizzoli, 2026), he analyses the symbolic and communicative construction of contemporary leadership, examining the relationship between consensus, identity, institutions and the drift towards illiberalism.

At Sconfinare Festival, Giannini reflects on the political weight of words: their ability to build trust or fuel fear, to open up dialogue or reduce complexity to slogans.

An encounter to explore the relationship between public language and democratic responsibility, and to ask ourselves how much room remains for critical thought when communication becomes a permanent exercise of power.

The event will be moderated by Lorenzo Buccella, cultural journalist.

Massimo Giannini is a journalist, essayist and political commentator. A columnist and former deputy editor of la Repubblica, he has worked for Il Sole 24 Ore and served as editor of Radio Capital and La Stampa. He hosted Ballarò on Rai 3 and regularly contributes to televised public debate. His most recent books include Il dovere della speranza. Le guerre, il disordine mondiale, la crisi dell’Europa e i dilemmi dell’Italia, co-written with Romano Prodi (Rizzoli, 2024), and La Sciamana. Meloni, l’ultima trumpista: fenomenologia della destra illiberale (Rizzoli, 2026).