The swimming challenge between Renzi and Vannacci. Barelli (FI): "Who’ll win? Judging by his physique, the general"

“The swimming challenge between Renzi and Vannacci? Well, let’s just say that the Italian Swimming Federation will be providing lifeguards free of charge, because they’ll be needed!” This is what Paolo Barelli, Undersecretary for Relations with Parliament, as well as a former swimming champion and president of the Italian Swimming Federation (FIN), told Il Foglio. The Italian international jokes and comments on the back-and-forth banter that has been going on for a few weeks between Matteo Renzi and Roberto Vannacci. The two champions of challenges and machismo are taunting each other via Instagram videos – not about politics, but about sport. Triathlon, swimming, running. Renzi issues a challenge, Vannacci raises the stakes, Renzi strikes back again. Kraken versus the General. And if this summer’s social media spat continues, there is a risk the two might find themselves competing in a marathon in a few months’ time, once August is over. Numbers in hand: but from the stopwatch, not the polls.

It all started with Renzi. Before playing in the ‘Partita del cuore’, the leader of Italia Viva posted a video and threw down the gauntlet: “I don’t want to play football, I want to challenge the general to a marathon. Come on, let’s give him a run for his money.” Vannacci took up the challenge, but in his reply he changed the playing field: forget the tarmac – let’s have a swimming race first. After all, the MEP seems to feel more at home in the pool than amongst runners, buoyed also by the two-day sports event organised in Sanremo with Futuro Nazionale. But perhaps the choice was ill-advised. Does he know that the Kraken is a sea monster? Who knows, perhaps the water might just end up working in his favour.

It’s an interesting summer challenge. And at the Chamber’s refreshment bar, we come across Barelli – the Italian swimming champion turned politician – busy savouring the new summer ice-cream flavours (peach, mascarpone with wild berries, vanilla). He is the former leader of the Forza Italia group in the Chamber of Deputies. We ask him for his predictions. If all this comes to pass, who will win? “Well, judging by his physique, I’d say Vanacci. He does triathlons!” But the two competitors are lucky that a third contender won’t be taking part in the competition: Beppe Grillo. The leader of the Five Star Movement turned 78 yesterday and has joined the ranks of swimming enthusiasts. In keeping with his birthday tradition, he went for a 4-kilometre swim off the coast of Marina di Bibbiona, in the province of Livorno. The very same man who, back in 2012, swam across the Strait of Messina. Yesterday he blew out 78 candles and burned off 1,333 calories. Figures which, at least in the water, would put both the general and the former prime minister to shame.

Amongst the corridors of the Chamber of Deputies, there is another sporting champion in the world of swimming: Fabio Rampelli. It may be due to his role as vice-president of Montecitorio, but the Fratelli d’Italia MP has chosen not to comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, the challenge already seems to have shifted from the water to the tarmac. In reiterating Renzi’s invitation, Vannacci proposed not only the swimming race but also a half-marathon on 4 October in Sardinia. It’s a pity that the Leopolda is scheduled for the same weekend. “It’s been around long before the general entered politics,” observes Renzi, declining the invitation. And the leader of Italia Viva retorts: “A half-marathon? From spending so much time with Tajani and Salvini, you’ve become just like them: you’re always proposing half-measures. I challenge you to a full marathon, whenever you like.” He adds that Vannacci will not be invited to the Leopolda because that is where “people go who believe the Constitution is anti-fascist, that gay people are normal, and that the United States of Europe offers hope”.

For now, the race remains a battle of reels. But if they really do line up on the same starting line, it will be one of the few political contests in which neither the polls nor the ‘likes’ will count. Only the stopwatch. And, above all, stamina.