Ravenna, who is Barattoni: fixation on numbers and long career in the PD

He was the favourite on the eve of the election and the predictions seem to have been confirmed, judging by the exit polls of Opinio Rai: Alessandro Barattoni could be elected mayor of Ravenna in the first round. Forty-two years old, married with a son, current provincial secretary of the Dem party and with a long political experience behind him, Barattoni never loses his enthusiasm: "I have never been bored a day," he assures, on the strength of a career that has seen him for two decades vice-president of the national council of Anci and a member of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union, before devoting himself to Ravenna alone since 2020. Passages of an endless career, so much so that on his curriculum vitae published by the municipality, after listing Romagnolo among the languages spoken in addition to Italian and French, he wrote under the heading 'other': "It is not considered appropriate to publish anything else due to synthesis difficulties".

From his seat in the Council, he admits, he had some reasons for nostalgia compared to his beginnings: 'There has been an immense decline in the quality of political life, even at local level. But when one is used to being in the trenches, one endures what one has to face: this also multiplies one's energy. Once upon a time, one was an apprentice before becoming even a party leader or municipal councillor. The DC had 30-40 sections, there was much more party participation, a selection of the ruling class. Now you can become a minister without having done any apprenticeships'.

Barattoni, secretary of the Ravenna PD since 2017, is supported by a wide-field coalition, which basically traces the one that supported de Pascale at the regional elections. At his side are the lists of the 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 had its fiefdom in Ravenna and which continues to have a certain weight in the city, expressing, for example, the outgoing deputy mayor. In the municipality of Ravenna at last autumn's regional elections, de Pascale took 58%.

Barattoni takes the picture himself on his website: 'Friends tease me because even in my spare time I use numbers - I apply them to everything, to sport, which I am passionate about, to trumps and, of course, to work -; this is because I have a fixation on organisation. Yes, I really think so and it shows: it is important to know how to do accounts well, in the family as in big processes. I don't know whether it is my nature that has shaped me or my studies - accountancy and a three-year degree in EU institutions, economics and politics - or, again, my work. For sure, it was years and years in logistics, among customers, hauliers moving all over Italy on dozens of routes and transports at the same time, with operational and turnover responsibility, dealing with hundreds of people every day. Today I deal with property management in Federcoop Romagna,' the newly appointed mayor tells us.

This is how Barattoni then describes his political career: 'After having been elected twice as a municipal councillor, I have held the position of secretary of the Democratic Party since 2017. In such a large, lively, deep-rooted and participatory organisation, I have trained my flexibility, learning to listen and also to follow intuition; to assess, without judging, people and situations with both mind and heart. And yes, even in this 'work' I have had satisfaction, beautiful. Beautiful, if I think of the results of the last elections in our province, where we won despite the difficulties of recent years. Never before, however, even in light of the tragic flood that brought us to our knees, are we aware that we live in a territory, as well as a time, that is fragile. What we have gone through, net of the difficulties that remain, has confirmed this community's ability to react together, nourished by the awareness that no one is saved alone'.