A councillor in northern Italy’s city of Lecco resigned after she was revealed as the author of anonymous, abusive comments aimed at a resident who criticised the municipal administration.
Alessandra Durante, the council’s minister for youth, family affairs, and digital innovation, stepped down after admitting she used a pseudonym to insult a resident on Facebook.
The citizen had reported damaged tiles along a pedestrian path in Largo Montenero in a Facebook media group called “Lecco. Society and Politics”, and asked for a speedy response by the municipal administration.
A user with the profile “Anonimo 582” replied to the initial post, in a way that quickly became insulting and derisive.
However, the Facebook group’s administrators then revealed that “Anonimo 582” was, in fact, Durante.
Durante, ironically, has prominently advocated for digital responsibility and online civility as part of Mayor Mauro Gattinoni’s administration.
Following the revelation, Durante issued a video apology: “It is my duty to make this public apology to a citizen I responded to in an overbearing and rude way, getting personal, and doing so anonymously under a post that simply requested maintenance. There is no justification.”
“I also apologise to the citizens who have worked with me for years or followed our digital initiatives. I fell into precisely the behaviours we’ve long identified as needing to be curbed in online spaces,” the councillor continued.
Despite formally submitting her resignation, Mayor Gattinoni has yet to decide whether to accept it.
Meanwhile, Fattore Lecco, the civic movement to which both Durante and the mayor belong, issued a statement defending her character, calling her “human, imperfect, and committed,” while denouncing online reactions against the councillor.
“In a world of perfect people, the news of a councillor who makes a mistake and apologises does not cause a stir. People prefer to call for resignation, for easy political cash, without dwelling on the real dynamics of what happened,” they said.
“We are standing by Alessandra not for an official defence but because if she slipped, on issues so important to her personal history, it can really happen to any of us; if it happened to her who knows how to use social media, knows its risks and dangers well and had the intuition and courage to propose awareness-building courses for kids and young people, it can really happen to anyone!” added Fattore Lecco.
