Beppe Grillo had lunch with Andrea Stroppa.

“Who knows”. This is the only constant to emerge from the various marathon meetings lasting over six hours in which several former MPs from the Five Star Movement took part today alongside Beppe Grillo. But the real surprise at the Hotel Forum – the comedian’s historic headquarters in the capital, overlooking the Roman Forum – was the meeting the founder of the Five Star Movement had with Andrea Stroppa, Elon Musk’s representative in Italy. There had already been preliminary discussions between the two in recent weeks, including posts on the comedian’s blog praising Musk and posts on X by Stroppa recalling how Grillo’s Movement was something different – a pioneering force – compared to the current party led by Giuseppe Conte. Today’s meeting. Will Stroppa be the one to help Grillo build a new party? Could he be the new ‘nerd’ who, alongside the comedian, can create a party based on artificial intelligence – just as Gianroberto Casaleggio and his firm Casaleggio & Associati created the ‘party of the internet’ with the Five Star Movement? Who knows, indeed. 

The former ombudsman has been in Rome since yesterday, when he attended the Chinese Embassy’s reception at the Hotel Parco dei Principi to mark the inauguration of Hou Yue, the People’s Republic’s new ambassador to Italy. The Chinese event also provided an opportunity to organise a whole series of other meetings, including one with Stroppa. At the lunch at the Forum, in fact, alongside Musk’s representative, several former MPs who have remained loyal to the founder were present: Marco Bella, Elio Lannutti and Luca Carabetta. All three do not rule out the idea that all this ‘activity’ could serve to build a new party. “We talked about everything,” says Bella. “Andrea Stroppa is a good person; Grillo is a genius.” As for the possibility of a new political entity, Lannutti says: “Never say never. Never set limits on providence.” The former regulator will remain in the capital until tomorrow morning. It cannot be ruled out that he might also pay a visit to his friend Alessandro Di Battista, who is due to return to television this very evening for a guest appearance on Di Martedì.