Centre-right, the revenge after the referendum: snatching Reggio Calabria and holding Venice

The centre-right winning Reggio Calabria in the first round and a clear lead in Venice causes Giorgia Meloni and her allies to breathe a sigh of relief. The perennially wide field of Elly Schlein and Giuseppe Conte watches helplessly as Vincenzo De Luca triumphs in Salerno and Mirello Crisafulli in Enna, who ran without even the PD symbol, and returns to watch. The results of the administrative elections of 24 and 25 May, which involved more than 700 municipalities and called 6.6 million Italians to the polls, seem to be unaffected by the referendum effect. And for the Left, the road to the political elections appears to be uphill: a book still to be written. With the Prime Minister ironically saying: 'And even today the much-announced collapse of the centre-right will be announced tomorrow'.

The most comforting outcome for the majority comes from Reggio Calabria, wrested from the centre-left after eleven years thanks to the centre-right candidate, Forza Italia MP Francesco Cannizzaro, known as Ciccio, who won with a percentage close to 70% over his rival Domenico Battaglia, the acting mayor after the election of Giuseppe Falcomatà to the regional council. If Cannizzaro was also supported by the Calendians of Azione and will be able to work closely with the governorRoberto Occhiuto, also of Fi, Battaglia was supported by the centre-left without the M5S, which did not even present a list. The former's victory was in the air: ministers and national bigwigs paraded for him in Reggio. For Battaglia the desert.

The Venetian result was also disappointing for the centre-left. The dream of a first-round turnaround led by Andrea Martella, a Pd senator, shattered against reality, which seems to have rewarded continuity with Simone Venturini, the 38-year-old who since 2015 has been councillor for Cohesion, Economic Development, Infrastructure, Labour and Tourism in the council of outgoing mayor Luigi Brugnaro. Venturini made his debut in politics at a very young age with the Udc, and went through scouting and Catholic associationism. His, with Brugnaro, was the bet on the ticket to enter Venice that Martella proposed to repeal. His, above all, is the list that seems to have exceeded 30 per cent with the League reduced below 5 per cent. According to the Fdi Raffaele Speranzon senator, for the premier victory in the first round, if it were to materialise, would be 'a world miracle'.

The wide field won, instead, in Prato with Matteo Biffoni, who had been the city's PD mayor for ten years and then last October made the 'leap' to the Regional Council with over 22 thousand preferences, an absolute record in the history of Tuscany. He returned to run after the resignation of the Dem mayor Ilaria Bugetti, overwhelmed by a corruption investigation. Another victory of the wide field is recorded in Pistoia, taken from the centre-right thanks to Giovanni Capecchi, university professor and civic profile who came out the winner of the coalition primaries,

But it is Vincenzo De Luca's return as mayor of Salerno after 33 years that makes the most headlines: elected for the fifth time (the first had been in 1993), the former governor won over seven rivals supported by seven lists. Here there is not even a shadow of a wide field: not only did De Luca run without the PD symbol (despite his son Piero being regional secretary), but M5S and Avs had presented Franco Massimo Lanocita. Without the Dem symbol another 'cacicco' ran in Enna: Mirello Crisafulli, the historical 'red baron' who won around 60% of the votes.