“No one dies as long as he lives in the heart of those who remain” (U. Foscolo)

Silvio Berlusconi has always called her his “little sister Etta” and, with this tenderness, with the same genuine sense of protection, he approached MAB, the association founded to remember Maria Antonietta, celebrate the memory and above all carry out the attention to the new generations and the love for art, born years before with the foundation of the Princess school.

MAB has been, from the beginning, the bright response of an entire family to a sudden darkness: the choice to put oneself “at the side”, to make beauty bloom, even on a great pain.
Significant parable was the constant presence of the former Premier, who has always accompanied the event with care, respect, enthusiastic participation, as discreet.

He saw the final Gala of the MAB Prize, at the Teatro Manzoni in Milan, as an unmissable event, an evening in which to remember his beloved Etta, celebrating very young Aristi. He arrived without a clamor and assisted fascinated, enthusiastic, grateful: he practiced that gratitude made of concreteness (so much so as to establish a special Prize in his name, in support of emerging industry operators – so as to rely on a solid economic basis, to dedicate themselves to innovative projects in the Dance – over the years transformed into an instrument of openness to an unthinkable world dimension) and of careful consideration for the work of each.

During the first edition, admirable exchange of jokes with Rossella Brescia (godmother and presenter of the event) to establish extemporaneously the important recognition entitled to him, which anticipated a “behind the scenes” known only to operators, in which, at the end of the evening, the Knight reaches the stage closed curtain, to shake hands with all the organizational and technical team, along with the master Roberto Fascilla and his nephew Silvio Andrea Beretta, president of MAB, with whom he shares intent and objectives.

It is a delicacy that returns with steadfast steadfastness, so much so that, in 2016, when he had to, despite himself, miss the final, he did not give up to feel his closeness and to honor those who were in the theater, in the name of a great dream. He sent, by surprise, a letter read on stage, addressed to the competitors, to whom he wished a bright path, to the artistic director Fascilla, to the general manager Gisella Zilembo and to the team, to whom he expressed sincere appreciation.
He expressed his constant closeness, with gestures full of meaning, out of every incursion, that did not correspond to making himself available to a work, of which he supports the power, in the visionary enthusiasm and tenacious planning, that have always given MAB body and substance.

Silvio Berlusconi lived the project with great enthusiasm, in the name of an essential ideal, shared with his nephew Silvio Beretta and imprinted in the DNA of the association: offering space to young people, believing in the value of culture, pursuing excellence, without compromise.

As the book “La Vita che danza” (ed. Mondadori Rizzoli) recounts when, at the suggestion of Maestro Fascilla, the Zilembo, then a fledgling manager, in 2009 was summoned to design MAB, the call appeared to her a joke and, once the misunderstanding was resolved, to her question “Why am I here? There are people of great experience who do this work”, the answer sanctioned the ethical and far-sighted approach of the MAB world: to give consideration to those who deserve, apart from any other consideration. MAB was born, therefore, with a single rule: employ for each role growing professionals, to offer a chance and give confidence.

This same trust is perhaps the most precious and powerful gift that Silvio Berlusconi today bequeaths to the association, which has become a leading international reference point, always faithful to the idea of making true, with commitment, what appears utopia.

Also in his name, with enormous gratitude, the leadership, led by the President, renews the will to do more and more and more better, so that skills and dedication have full realization and dreams can become results.