Municipal elections 2025: all mayoral challenges in the capitals on the ballot

After the electoral test in South Tyrol (with the confirmation of the centrosinistra in Trento and the victory of the centrodestra in Bolzano), there are a hundred municipalities on the ballot on Sunday 25 May and Monday 26 May. Four are the chief towns, namely Genoa, Ravenna, Taranto and Matera. Another mini-electoral round that will in any case be able to give, once the possible ballots in the larger municipalities that will take place at the same time as the referendum on 8 and 9 June are over, some important indications to the parties.

In Genoa the challenge with the greatest national impact. It is a very open challenge that has the flavour of a possible 'revenge' for the centre-left after the regional elections last October when Marco Bucci beat Andrea Orlando by a few thousand votes, confirming the leadership of the Liguria region to the centre-right. The challengers are the deputy mayor and budget councillor in Genoa, Pietro Picciocchi, for the centre-right and Silvia Salis for the centre-left. Piciocchi, class of '77, lawyer, six children and two in foster care, has been the man behind the machine of two Bucci juntas: his candidature is supported by Fratelli d'Italia, Lega, Forza Italia, Noi Moderati, Udc and Nuovo Psi as well as two civic lists. The entire centre-left (from the M5s and Avs to the renziani of Italia Viva passing, of course, through the PD) reached an agreement on Salis, after a few weeks of internal tensions, especially within the PD. In the end the Dems opted, also thanks to the composition work put in place by Orlando, for a civic candidate. Salis, a former athlete, is deputy vice-president of CONI and is married to film director Fausto Brizzi.

In the red fortress of Ravenna , the vote is on to choose the mayor who will succeed Michele de Pascale, who prematurely interrupted his mandate to become president of the Emilia-Romagna region. The odds are all in favour of Alessandro Barattoni, 41 years old, secretary of the Ravenna PD since 2017 and supported by a coalition in a very wide field version, which basically traces the one that supported de Pascale at the regional elections. At his side are the lists of Pd, Avs, M5s, the civic list Ama Ravenna, Progetto Ravenna, a rassemblement formed by Iv, Azione, +Europa and Socialists and the list of the Republican Party, which in the first republic in Ravenna had its own fiefdom and continues to have some weight in the city. The centre-right is unusually divided into three. Fratelli d'Italia has decided to bet on Nicola Grandi, a 55-year-old insurer and outgoing councillor, who has gathered the support of Forza Italia and the civic association Viva Ravenna, but not of the League, which has instead decided to bet on Alvaro Ancisi. Ancisi is 85 years old and has sat on the municipal council benches since 1966, almost always in opposition. Also in the centre-right area is the historic civic list La Pigna, which is back to bet on municipal councillor Veronica Verlicchi.

Opposite scenario in Matera. Here, the centre-right is united around Antonio Nicoletti while no less than three candidates (Roberto Cifarelli, Vincenzo Santochirico and Domenico Bennardi) are running for the centre-left, and without even the Pd symbol. Pieces of Italia Viva and Azione (more clearly with a list) are running alongside Cifarelli, who is supported by a total of nine lists. A Pd regional councillor (a party with which he has been elected three times to the Lucanian Assembly), he won the 'Open' primaries, promoted by a group of a hundred young people and not recognised by the parties. And the Pd - as already happened at the Potenza municipal elections in spring 2024 - did not present a list with its own symbol. The needle of the scales could be represented by Santochirico, a lawyer, with a past as councillor and president of the regional council with the Pd: indicated at first by a centre-left table, he first announced his withdrawal from the electoral competition and then retraced his steps and presented himself with 'Progetto Comune', with which he will attempt to shift some votes from the progressive-reformist camp. Bennardi, the outgoing mayor of the M5S, elected in October 2020, wants revenge after being disqualified in October 2024 following the resignation of 17 out of 32 municipal councillors.

Confused situation on both sides, however, in Taranto. The centre-left, after the premature end of the administration led by Rinaldo Melucci - brought about by the simultaneous resignation of 17 councillors - is trying to regain the leadership of the municipality with Piero Bitetti, a well-known face in local politics. Former president of the city council, Bitetti can count on the support of the PD and seven other lists. The 5 Star Movement, on the other hand, has decided to run alone, nominating journalist Annagrazia Angolano, flanked by the civic list 'Angolano sindaca'. The official centre-right, after failing to agree on a single candidate, has bet on Luca Lazzàro, former president of Confagricoltura Puglia. A candidacy built around a figure of managerial experience, well regarded by the FdI leadership. The coalition includes Fratelli d'Italia, Forza Italia, Partito Liberale and Noi Moderati. Francesco Tacente, a 42-year-old lawyer and resigning president of Ctp (Provincial Transport Consortium), is instead supported by a civic front that also includes exponents of the League, present under the name 'Prima Taranto', but without the official symbol. With him are six other lists.