Mirello Crisafulli, the alchemist who brings together Gen Z and the old Italian Communist Party to stem La Vardera’s rise

Enna, like the rest of Sicily, is losing its population: since 2001, 3,800 people have left, almost all of them young. Today, 25,000 remain. It has neither the sea, nor influencers, nor an Airbnb boom; it thrives on public sector jobs, trade and services. But, unlike the rest of the island, it possesses a unique chemistry whereby old and young engage in politics together within a centre-left party. The alchemist is Vladimiro Crisafulli, Sicily’s last post-communist, elected mayor last May with two-thirds of the vote, thanks in part to a group of young people united under the banner of ‘Gen Z’ – a carbon copy of the campaign run by New York’s socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani.

They say Sicily is Italy’s political testing ground: Berlusconi’s 61–0 victory, Grillo swimming across the Strait, the grand coalitions. More than a testing ground, it is a guinea pig on which to experiment with what others will eventually have to deal with. The latest trend is the evolution of ‘Grillism’, first embodied by Cateno De Luca and now by Ismaele La Vardera: aged 32, a former member of Le Iene, a former mayoral candidate for Palermo on Salvini’s ticket, a former ally of De Luca, and now, with his party Controcorrente, on course to stand as the broad coalition’s candidate for the regional presidency in 2027. In early September, he brought together Sicilian and Roman politicians in Agrigento, forged alliances with Onorato’s centrist faction and resurrected old glories, such as Antonio Ingroia. Of Crisafulli, he said: “Better Totò Cuffaro”. Two worlds apart: whilst Crisafulli draws on the vanished culture of the Italian communists, La Vardera draws on that of Striscia la Notizia. Crisafulli advocates primaries open to all, whilst the PD promises a high-profile candidate: “And if one doesn’t materialise, I’ll stand myself. La Vardera has a healthy inclination for whistleblowing, but governing isn’t the same as whistleblowing. And besides, I believe in political parties, not civic activism,” he tells Il Foglio.

Skirmishes within a minority camp, a prelude to yet another victory for the centre-right. Only De Luca can change the outcome: whether he goes it alone or forms an alliance with the centre-left, the game is back on. Meanwhile, Sicily is growing (+9.4 per cent GDP in three years), losing its population, burning in summer wildfires, and welcoming migrants. Splendid, decadent, stagnant – it governs itself.

Vladimiro Crisafulli, known as Mirello, was born in Enna in 1950 and has been involved in politics since he was fifteen. He is a large man, slightly stooped, with large hands and a smoker’s cough. On the Senate website, under ‘occupation’, it says ‘party official’. The son of an Italian Communist Party (PCI) activist, raised within the reformist wing of the party, he served as a town councillor, regional deputy, councillor, national deputy and, in 2008, senator. That is where his rise through the ranks came to a halt: in 2013, he was excluded from the party lists due to suspected links with the Mafia – allegations that were never proven; that same year, Enna was the only province in Italy where Renzi lost the primaries. Then came the purge: the party was placed under special administration; he was denied the party’s symbol when he stood for mayor in 2015, and was defeated. Yet he never strayed from the PD, not even during the split led by D’Alema and Bersani. ‘Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus’, as they used to say in the church where he grew up.

In a region where politics is conducted either by elected representatives or by selling one’s assets to the highest bidder, Crisafulli is a rare bird. Even without holding office, he has kept his office in Enna Bassa open: from that stronghold, he has elected regional secretaries and MPs and founded Kore, the island’s fourth university centre. As mayor, he still receives visitors there every afternoon. A sign warns: ‘Out of respect, please do not enter in slippers’. On the walls hangs a photograph of Pompeo Colajanni, a partisan from Enna. He listens, sorts things out, makes promises and finds solutions.

It is said that there are two ways to be Sicilian: to stay or to emigrate – Sicilians of the rocks or of the open sea. Crisafulli’s ‘carusi’ are staying put. “I’m not leaving Enna,” says Marco Greco, 26, regional secretary of the Young Democrats and chair of the town council. Very thin, round glasses, shaved head, a flat cap, and the ironclad logic of an inquisitor. Lillo Colaleo, councillor for planning, explains the alliance between young and old as follows: “We haven’t invented anything; we’re replicating the model of the Young Communists of the 1980s.” They have revived the party, brought back the ‘Feste dell’Unità’, and built up a network of student associations. One Tuesday evening in September, forty of them are gathered round a plastic table on the outskirts of Enna: beer, loose tobacco; they’re discussing organising the students of Regalbuto and Calascibetta. “Party matters are resolved within the party. That’s the rule,” their leader concludes theatrically. They may appear out of touch with the wider world, or perhaps they simply constitute a world of their own: in Enna, they note, the most popular university night out is at a bar where patrons watch Temptation Island.

From the mountain near Enna, one can observe the vast Etna valley and, on the opposite side, the deserts of inland Sicily. News arrives late; the alchemist rules the city, while its carusi discuss drive belts and political balances. The La Vardera wave, however, amounts to little more than foam.