Salvatore Merlo

Vicedirettore

Milano 1982, vicedirettore del Foglio. Cresciuto a Catania, liceo classico “Galileo” a Firenze, tre lauree a Siena e una parentesi universitaria in Inghilterra. Ho vinto alcuni dei principali premi giornalistici italiani, tra cui il Premiolino (2023) e il premio Biagio Agnes (2024) per la carta stampata. Giornalista parlamentare, responsabile del servizio politico e del sito web, lavoro al Foglio dal 2007. Ho scritto per Mondadori "Fummo giovani soltanto allora", la vita spericolata del giovane Indro Montanelli.

Perhaps tomorrow

Schlein calls Salis, but she always says ‘perhaps’. And the reason isn’t caution

A unifying figure for the centre, or the ‘right woman’ if she doesn’t win? The mayor of Genoa circles the ring but doesn’t throw a punch. Too much ambition to choose

Salvatore Merlo

14 OCT 26

Schlein calls Salis, but she always says ‘perhaps’. And the reason isn’t caution

The case

The Meloni–Schlein alliance: electoral reform and the election date

The electoral law creates a unique convergence between the Prime Minister and the Democratic Party secretary, both of whom have an interest in a system that links coalitions and the prime ministerial candidate. Meanwhile, Salis, touted as a possible unifier of the centre, is once again speaking in conditional terms and calling her entry into the race into question

Salvatore Merlo

9 OCT 26

The Meloni–Schlein alliance: electoral reform and the election date

the interview

In Fazzolari’s office. Interview with the undersecretary, Meloni’s right-hand man

The final word on Vannacci: “He’s just like Conte and we won’t be joining forces with him”. The election date, the dream of a conservative in the Quirinale: “Giorgia isn’t the most suitable candidate at the moment”. Ranucci, the RAI and the defence of Ukraine: “It’s a matter of national interest”

Salvatore Merlo

8 OCT 26

To the polls, in handcuffs

The cop & the tax collector. Gabrielli and Ruffini are forming a party together on the left. The gravedigger is missing from the roll call

Only the Left, which never disappoints, could have imagined a party led by the former head of the tax authority and the former chief of police. The project, as is well known, is called ‘Più Uno’ – a name in which taxpayers might detect a faint echo of a surtax. The risk is that citizens will go into hiding

Salvatore Merlo

3 OCT 26

The cop & the tax collector. Gabrielli and Ruffini are forming a party together on the left. The gravedigger is missing from the roll call

MANDATORY

"MANDATORY". Under the electoral law, Meloni requires her ministers to attend and imposes primaries on the left

The Prime Minister sends a message to her ministers, written entirely in capital letters: the electoral law must be voted on in the Chamber. It passes the first reading in the Chamber of Deputies, with everyone terrified of their leader. She tells Nordio: “Stand for re-election.” The left watches and prepares its response following Conte’s move. But the EU spoils the party on flexibility

Salvatore Merlo

2 OCT 26

the political family

Tajani, the rift and the boycott of the Cavaliere’s 90th birthday celebrations

Marina B.’s friends have boycotted the event organised for Cav. by the Deputy Prime Minister of Forza Italia, who joins via video link at the very last minute. Francesca Pascale: “An undignified circus”

Salvatore Merlo

30 SEP 26

In Calabria

Not even Vannacci can make Schlein win

No Saxony-Anhalt here; in Reggio Calabria, the right is present, as is Vannacci, whilst the left, on the other hand, loses even when the other coalition is divided

Salvatore Merlo

29 SEP 26

the Dreyfus on Via Teulada

Ranucci, the first TV presenter in Italian television to be sentenced in absentia

This morning, the court could award ‘Report’ back to the claimant. In the meantime, he is already spending his days at Rai and has even produced eight investigative reports (and 150 complaints).

Salvatore Merlo

25 SEP 26

The Infinite Century

Paolo Mieli’s book on the West’s self-deceptions, from Alcibiades to Putin

The greatest deception – the one that gives the book its title – is close at hand and almost familiar; it is the conviction, which took hold after 1989, that history had drawn to a close with the twentieth century and that humanity could finally settle into a century of peace, or perhaps even two

Salvatore Merlo

24 SEP 26

Walking the tightrope

Opposition female senators shorten their skirts in the Chamber in protest against Tajani (and Vannacci sees them naked)

The 2027 election campaign, it seems, will also be fought on the edge. The Italian political landscape, divided for a century between right and left, has been redrawn in seventy-two hours to run above and below the knee. With a third way – that of Vannacci – which abolishes the knee as a boundary

Salvatore Merlo

23 SEP 26

Total items: 32

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