Ancona, the red stronghold, falls: after 30 years the city passes into the hands of the centre-right. The new mayor Silvetti: “Tired and upset”

Ancona, one of the last red strongholds, has fallen. The centre-right candidate, Daniele Silvetti, won the runoff with 51.73% of the votes against 48.27% of the centre-left challenger, Ida Simonella, outgoing councilor of the dem council. Silvetti, 50 years old, lawyer and president of the Conero Park, thus becomes the first center-right mayor of Ancona. A battle fought to the last vote. «We could only win like this: by suffering», Silvetti admits to La Stampa, «satisfied and overwhelmed» by the result achieved.

The first congratulatory phone call, with ballots still open, comes from the coordinator of Forza Italia Antonio Tajani. Silvetti is a man indicated by the blue party and in this electoral round he therefore becomes the flagship of Silvio Berlusconi’s party: “How much satisfaction – writes Tajani on Twitter – for our Daniele Silvetti who after 30 years has ripped Ancona away from the left!” . Silvetti’s electoral committee is celebrating. Bottles of sparkling wine are uncorked, choirs are sung, flags appear and horns sound in the street as you pass in front of the new mayor surrounded by his supporters: it almost seems like a championship party. There is a certain sense of revenge, after a life spent in the opposition: “Finally”, many shout, between hugs.

The absence of big party leaders in the city, on the side of the Democratic Party as well as that of the government coalition, is perhaps the sign of a game that was considered too poised to risk putting its face on a defeat. “But in the ballots it was time to let our candidate speak and to show only him, this was our strategy,” explains the Ancona deputy Francesco Battistoni, of Forza Italia.

A few hundred meters away, the centre-left candidate’s electoral committee has already emptied. Simonella is almost with tears in her eyes: «I wouldn’t have wanted to be the one who delivers Ancona to the right. I am very sorry”. The usual message of “good work” sent to Silvetti is followed by “the wish not to waste the work that the centre-left junta has done in recent years: there are 80 million euros of investments, construction sites open or to open, and many projects ».