Municipalities in Sicily. Meloni wins the Catania challenge, smiles a little less in the other capitals at the vote

Two clues prove it: Catania is a city with a strong right-wing vocation. The rally of Meloni, who went down to Sicilylast Friday, to put his hat on his first-round victory at Henry Trantinois coupled with the very large affirmation in the polls, which brought the lawyer and son of art to the highest seat in Palazzo degli Elefanti. There was no need to resort to a ballot, given the Bulgarian percentages. Enzo’s son, a historic exponent of the MSI and the National Alliance, received more than 60 percent of the votes (according to the regional electoral law, 40 would have been enough to escape the second round). The troop of the progressive camp was very detached, which for the occasion lined up university professor Maurizio Caserta at the starting line, supported by Pd and Cinque Stelle, whom only Giuseppe Conte in the last week of the electoral campaign had tried to revive (Schlein was remained in Emilia-Romagna).

The plebiscite in favor of Trantino adds a piece to the collection of electoral successes of the centre-right in the city: before him he administered for a few years Except Pogliese, knocked out by a conviction for embezzlement and by the Severino Law, which led him to resign after a couple of suspensions from office (a ready “reward” for him in the Senate). In the past, from 2008 to 2013, he had been the turn of Raffaele Stancanelli, current MEP of the Brothers of Italy. All established patriots. Meloni’s success is no surprise and, in the light of the latest results obtained in the administration (including the defeats of Rome, Milan, Turin and, lastly, Brescia), it is understandable why the premier has pulled the rope more than necessary to impose the name of the candidate for mayor, strongly contested by Salvini.

Catania, starting today, becomes the most populous municipality administered by FdI, which in Sicily is making its way to the detriment of more moderate parties such as Forza Italia, which has always had its granary of acclaim in these parts. The list votes can only confirm the advance of the patriots, the stability of the coalition led by Schifani in the region and, above all, the de profundis of Pd and Cinque Stelle. If Schlein’s party is recovering from a series of fairly obvious defeats on the island, for grillini the disappointment is double: the percentages obtained in last September’s policies, around 28 percent, have completely crumbled together with the Citizenship Income, torn apart by Meloni.

Brothers of Italy smile a little less in the other capitals at the vote. In fact, Giovanni Cultrera’s candidacy turns out to be a hole in the water Ragusa: wins, wins again but above all the outgoing mayor Peppe Cassì wins (over 60 percent), who five years ago also received the support of FdI, and who this time wanted to maintain his “civic” connotation. Alongside him, however, lined up a couple of owl lists, expression of the Christian Democrats of Totò Cuffaro and the “southern” Cateno De Luca. TO Trapani it will be decided in the sprint: here the Melonian Maurizio Miceli chases the outgoing Giacomo Tranchida, expression of the Democratic Party, who flirts with victory in the first round. Syracuse it is another partially frozen experiment for the centre-right: in Archimedes’ homeland, in fact, the entire coalition in support of Ferdinando Messina (Forza Italia) was not enough to overcome the competition from Francesco Italia, outgoing mayor and real Calendian. It will be the two of them who will contest the election in a fortnight.

Last tip to report: Cateno De Luca, who on a national level is increasingly aligned with Letizia Moratti and is pushing for a single container for the European – on the model of territorial equity – he becomes mayor of “his” fourth municipality. The Sgarbi of Sicily had already administered Fiumedinisi, Santa Teresa di Riva and the much more famous Messina: from tomorrow it will be the turn of Taormina, the pearl of the Ionian. In the meantime, he is a parliamentarian for the Ars, following the defeat suffered by Schifani in the regional elections, when he ran for president under the banner of “South calls North”.