Renzi and Gualtieri together in Rome on Monday. A sign or just a coincidence?

Rome. The pairing is less unusual than it seems – the political alliance between the former leader of Italia Viva, Matteo Renzi, and the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, who are set to feature, on Monday 28th at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, in an evening event where one (Gualtieri) will debate with the other (Renzi), based on the book written by Renzi, available in bookshops from the 29th (“Qvando c’era lei – L’Italia dopo Giorgia Meloni”, published by Solferino). The two have, in fact, long held mutual respect for one another, dating back to when Renzi was at Palazzo Chigi and Gualtieri was chair of ECON, the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, during the difficult times of the banking crisis. That mutual respect later translated into concrete support at a crucial moment: for the second round of the 2021 local elections, after backing Carlo Calenda in the first round, the former prime minister promptly endorsed the future mayor, with whom he is now in the ruling coalition in Rome. Gualtieri, fresh from a trip to New York and an exchange of ideas with his ‘twin’ Zohran Mamdani, was the sole political guest at the Casa Riformista party last July. Nevertheless, the pair still appear to be an odd couple, at least to those in the broader political camp who ‘hope there’s something brewing’, as one Democratic Party MP puts it. The timing is also notable, coming in the midst of the ongoing debate over whether to hold primaries, with the Elly Schlein–Giuseppe Conte duo firmly opposed, a rapid decline in enthusiasm among the various figures in the Broad Camp regarding the very idea of an internal consultation, and a simultaneous resurgence of the vague hypothesis: ‘what if we found a unifying figure?’. But if you say ‘unifying figure’, you mean ‘mayor’, and so the name of the Mayor of Rome (alongside that of the Mayor of Naples, Silvia Salis, and the Mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi) is doing the rounds from one end of the broad coalition to the other (there are even rumours of soothsayers who, for days, have been deciphering Gualtieri’s interview with La Repubblica – the one in which he speaks not only of Rome, but also of Europe, Ukraine, education and migration flows, reiterating his intention to stand for a second term and no more, but also making it clear that he is not keen on primaries and hopes that the centre-left will unite around a strong, credible proposal, based on programmes and a vision for the country, without getting bogged down in leadership issues. "The relationship between Gualtieri and Renzi is, in its own way, historic," says Luciano Nobili, an IV councillor in the Lazio Regional Assembly, as he looks back over the key stages. He was the one who, on Renzi’s side – just as Claudio Mancini, the Democratic Party MP and pillar of the Rome PD, was on Gualtieri’s side – facilitated the consolidation of dialogue between the former prime minister and the mayor (culminating in the Renzi supporters in the Rome City Council joining the governing coalition). It remains to be seen what Gualtieri will say about Renzi’s combative book, a ‘J’accuse’ against the government (“when you were in power”, people paid more tax, trains ran late, young people went abroad again, petrol and the cost of living rose, and Italy became less safe – such is the thrust of this ‘scathing pamphlet’). Will Gualtieri—who has maintained a continuous and cordial exchange with Meloni regarding Rome’s city government—highlight the constructive side or lend weight to Renzi’s destructive rhetoric? “In any case, let’s be clear: if you invite Gualtieri to launch a book, he’ll certainly read it,” says Nobili. Be that as it may, in a few weeks’ time the mayor will also be launching Roberto Speranza’s book. Meanwhile, Gualtieri’s campaign has already kicked off informally, including via a very ‘Mamdani-esque’ app inspired by Mancini (‘For Rome with Gualtieri’, and a meeting between the mayor and volunteers is due to take place soon). Nevertheless, while noting Gualtieri’s statements about seeking a second term and no more, the timing of his collaboration with Renzi appears both coincidental and deliberate, given that the question of “when will the general election be held?” hangs over Renzi, Gualtieri and the entire centre-left. Only once the answer is known, in fact, can the pieces (primaries or a unifying figure?) be moved. And whilst it is true that Renzi has always regarded the primaries as the main route, should things take a turn for the worse, who knows? All the more so as, within the centre-left, names continue to circulate, circulate and circulate. And what of Gualtieri? “If it weren’t for the second term getting in the way,” says a Democratic Party representative, “he’d be the perfect candidate.”