Cateno’s brothers: “I’ll stand alongside Meloni to stop Vannacci”. The leader of Sud chiama Nord speaks out

The Prime Minister with Scateno? “I’ll stand alongside Giorgia Meloni; we’ve reached an agreement for 2027. We must stop Vannacci.” Cateno De Luca is veering to the right and preparing to officially launch the alliance between his movement, Sud chiama Nord, and Meloni’s supporters. “We’ll hold a press conference next week at the Chamber of Deputies,” the mayor of Taormina tells Il Foglio. With a long career in politics, spanning Sicilian autonomism and dramatic stunts, in 2007 he stripped naked in the Sicilian Regional Assembly (Ars) to protest against Totò Cuffaro over the sell-off of the region’s properties. In one hand he held a Pinocchio figurine, in the other the Bible. Today he is forging an alliance with the Prime Minister, with a local flavour. “We have noted an openness within the centre-right to value local experiences – those of mayors and local authorities – something we have not seen in the so-called ‘broad coalition’,” explains De Luca, whose aim is to “develop a strategy for the direct representation of those who, on the ground, ensure services for citizens and a high quality of life on a daily basis”.

The move, he says, could put pressure on Vannacci’s supporters, who are keen to open a channel of dialogue with the centre-right. “The general pontificates and spouts nonsense in a bid to win support for its own sake,” the mayor attacks. “We want to chart a course that counters this drift. Roberto Vannacci is a modernised and more extreme version of the M5S.” In practical terms, Meloni will support Scateno in the Chamber of Deputies. “We also received an offer from the centre-left for a seat in the mixed group, but we opted for Fratelli d’Italia nonetheless. They will inform us of the names of the MPs shortly.” This move alleviates the difficulties linked to the provision on the collection of signatures included in the electoral law approved yesterday. “After thirty years, Meloni has restored the legitimacy of preferential votes and repositioned the electoral system on a proportional basis,” explains De Luca. “That alone is enough for me to support her in the next general election.”

After all, Cateno – known as ‘Scateno’ – has racked up quite a few votes: ‘Roughly speaking, over 600,000 votes in forty years of politics’. During that time, he has built a civic-inspired party and nurtured the former Iena presenter Ismaele La Vardera. “I invented him. But now he’s with Onorato and his ‘test-tube’ civic movement.” According to De Luca, the leader of Progetto Civico “has done nothing but take men and women already in the centre-left and bring them together in a new faction. And the M5S will provide him with a few senators to help him bypass the signature requirements. But he brings nothing to the centre-left, neither in numerical terms nor politically.” Former public prosecutor Antonio Ingroia has also sided with Onorato. “They remember him well in Trapani – from when he was the provincial commissioner and for his administrative skills,” says De Luca sarcastically.

He, too, however, will manage to overcome the hurdle of the signatures. “But we’re already in Parliament. In 2022, ScN alone elected a senator and a member of the Chamber of Deputies. We’re not like Onorato, who’s striking a national deal to find a loophole to get into Parliament. Today we’re at 1.5 per cent, but we’ll double that.” At national level, there is dialogue, but when it comes to Sicily, he wants a free hand. “Here in the region, we are in opposition to the centre-right and to Renato Schifani, for as long as that lasts.” For days now, there have been rumours of resignations at Palazzo d’Orleans. De Luca is aiming to take the place of the centre-right governor. But independently. “If the conditions arise to overcome what we disagree with in the centre-right in Sicily, we’ll have a second stage in common.” In Rome, discussions are currently taking place with the Prime Minister. “Our guarantor is Meloni. It is with her that we have an agreement; the whole centre-right knows this,” he clarifies. After all, the mayor has really let rip with League leader Matteo Salvini. From the bridge over the Strait (though, as a bridge advocate, he branded it ‘the bridge of business’) to the lawsuit filed in 2024 against the League for plagiarism of election slogans. Today, Scateno displays an enviable mild-manneredness. “Relations with the League and Forza Italia will be managed directly by FdI.” And he paints an overall positive picture of the government’s performance. “As a good administrator, I’d say that Meloni has found herself having to pay for the blunders of previous governments. The spectre of Conte continues to haunt the control room. But despite this, the Italian system has held up.”