Vicinanza tells us that “Ruotolo-style punitive justice will backfire on the PD”

Despite everything, Luigi Vicinanza – with a career as a journalist and a second, much shorter and more turbulent one as mayor of Castellammare di Stabia – insists he would do it all again. If the clock were turned back to 2024, he would stand again with the PD (of which he is not a member) for the position he was forced to vacate on 14 July, when the Town Council was dissolved due to Camorra infiltration.

“Let’s be careful to avoid misunderstandings: my ‘I’d do it again’ is not an indication that I intend to stand for re-election when the next vote takes place. I simply mean that I have no regrets, because over the past two years I have brought about change in the town. I have governed transparently; I’ve taken a lot of flak but not a single bribe – not even a coffee,” clarifies Vicinanza, whose surname has not been a source of good fortune. The estrangement from the Party – and from those within the Party whom he once considered friends – is what has weighed most heavily on him: MEP Sandro Ruotolo had been elected to the Castellammare Town Council, but resigned in January, accusing Vicinanza of failing to act as a bulwark against the Camorra and, in turn, calling on him to step down: “Ruotolo’s attendance record on the Council didn’t even reach ten meetings in two years. We should ask him why,” recalls the former mayor, “but certainly the punitive stance the PD has taken towards Castellammare is a political mistake because it is setting a serious precedent and could backfire on many other municipalities governed by the centre-left.”

Vicinanza complains of having received no support from the Party in leading a town (so to speak – Castellammare has a population of 63,000) that is difficult to govern, where the previous administration had already been dissolved due to links with the Camorra. “I have repeatedly invited Elly Schlein to come and see for herself just how gruelling – and yet how exciting – it is to govern here, but to no avail. Now not even a phone call. I have not read the reasons that led the Council of Ministers to dissolve the council, so I will not comment on the merits of the case; however, I will say one thing to Ruotolo, who spoke of ‘crime-inducing civic spirit’: when I was called upon in 2024, I was told that I would have to act as a unifying force across a very broad coalition comprising a total of 14 lists, each with its own history, the intricacies of which were known not to me, but to the local leaders. They did not want to repeat the mistake of 2018, when the centre-right won because the centre-left had fielded three competing candidates in the first round and lost the run-off by a thousand votes. The coalition at that time comprised as many as 17 lists.” And yet in Torre Annunziata, where the Council was dissolved in June for the very same reasons, two Democratic Party representatives – not from civic lists – are under investigation for fraudulent expense claims. “You can therefore understand how much political double standards outrage me: it is clear that the problem is not the ‘crime-inducing civic activism’ that Ruotolo has been stirring up, because difficulties are also being experienced within the Party itself.”

Why didn’t the PD support Vicinanza? “I said ‘no’ too many times.” Which ones? “They probably envisaged a council different from the one I formed, but forty days after the election victory they still hadn’t given me the names because of internal disagreements amongst the various factions. So I formed a mayor’s council. And those disagreements blew up in my face.” But surely there must be some good memories too? “It took me two hours and 53 minutes to outline them in the Council. To summarise: the restoration of the public beach with facilities; the opening of three schools; a home for people with severe disabilities; the launch of three social welfare centres in three properties confiscated from the Camorra; school transport for disabled children; canteens where 1,100 children eat for just 46 euros a month each; and a state-of-the-art CCTV system with 300 cameras.”

Two dissolutions due to Camorra infiltration in five years point to a very serious problem. “They indicate that Article 143 of the Consolidated Law on Local Authorities needs to be revised. I discussed this in June at a meeting with the Under-Secretary of State for the Interior, Wanda Ferro, and the Mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi, who is also President of ANCI. Perhaps, rather than focusing on dissolution, we should consider a form of support for mayors, assisted by officials from the Ministry of the Interior, whilst respecting the sovereignty of the people. I hope that the sacrifice made by Castellammare may prompt a national rethink.”