Thirty-five years ago, the murder of Rosario Livatino, the 'young judge'

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Thirty-five years ago, on September 21, 1990, the young judge Rosario Livatino, like every morning, prepared to go to court. He got into his old maroon Ford Fiesta and took the road that led him to work, faithful to his duty. He couldn’t know – or perhaps he sensed it – that this would be his last ride.

When he reached the Gasena viaduct, in the area of Agrigento, the car he was driving, without escort, was rammed by another vehicle. Inside were four hitmen hired by the Stidda of Agrigento, the mafia organization opposed to Cosa Nostra. Livatino desperately tried to escape through the fields, already wounded in the shoulder by a gunshot. He ran for a few dozen meters before being caught and mercilessly executed.

The mafia feared him. They called him “the young judge,” a nickname that referred to his young age but failed to capture his moral and professional greatness. Every day, he was guided by deeply rooted faith and an unwavering sense of justice. He never knew compromise: he lived his role as a servant of the state with consistency, embodying courage, integrity, and loyalty to the values of legality.

The mafia assassinated him, but they couldn’t extinguish his light. Today, Rosario Livatino, proclaimed Blessed, remains a symbol of a magistrate who was able to combine rigor and humanity, faith and law. His life and sacrifice continue to show us the way: to serve the state quietly, without vanity, but with the silent strength of those who truly believe in justice and democracy.

Among his notes, after his death, a phrase was found that still resonates today as a warning and inspiration:
“When we die, no one will ask us how religious we were, but how credible we were.”

A man of the institutions, to whom we must look even today, to inspire our daily commitment in service to the country.