The Reggio Calabria case. By-elections with an XXL agreement on the name of Carmine Fotia (Schlein and Conte remain silent)

Rome. The opportunity is there: a by-election for the Chamber of Deputies, following the election of Francesco Cannizzaro – a former FI MP – as mayor of Reggio Calabria. And one opportunity leads to another: that of a united candidacy called for by citizens, local left-wing figures and intellectuals in an appeal to the leaders of the centre-left parties. A candidacy not confined to the ‘broad coalition’, but extended to an ‘XXL coalition’ ranging from Rifondazione to Azione, via Avs, Mimmo Lucano, Casa Riformista, Pina Picierno and numerous civic groups and moderate politicians. Not a mirage, but a very real dress rehearsal ahead of the general election, in the South where the centre-right fears the ‘Vannacci effect’. The candidate – or rather, as he himself puts it, “the candidate without his knowledge”, in the sense that his name was put forward without prior consultation – is Carmine Fotia, a journalist, a long-standing contributor to Il Manifesto, deputy editor of La7 and a centre-left figure without party membership, who has strong ties to his city. But there is a ‘but’: almost all the leaders approached have responded to the call, except for the Democratic Party’s secretary Elly Schlein and the Five Star Movement’s leader Giuseppe Conte. The figures from 2022 – the year in which the PD and the M5S stood separately in Reggio Calabria – would suggest they should present a united front, especially as the centre-right already has a candidate (Fabio Roscioli, treasurer of Forza Italia) and the Democrats secured just 9 per cent in the local elections. Meanwhile, the appeal in support of Fotia continues to gather signatures (among others, it has been signed by Leoluca Orlando, Linda Laura Sabbatini, Luisa Picozzi, former central director of Istat, the writer Saverio Barbaro, the journalists Carlo Puca and Constanze Reuscher, Bobo Craxi and Claudio Signorile). Fotia himself is waiting: “I heard about the proposal for my candidacy whilst I was in the village where I live, Calvi dell’Umbria, working with my family on a conference on ‘AI versus Digital Humanism’. I was taken by surprise, but I felt the call of my city. The situation is dire; the Left is at an all-time low. The Right already has its candidate; and I have received support from a broad coalition. I am reminded of Cardinal Pappalardo’s words at Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa’s funeral: ‘Dum Romae consulitur Sagunto expugnatur’: “I don’t want to rush anyone,” says Fotia, “but reality is moving fast.”