The ScN leader’s convention, attended by Meloni’s ministers and ‘differently civic’ mayors

“Fewer generals, more mayors,” says the mayor of Taormina and leader of Sud chiama Nord, Cateno De Luca, on the first day of the Rome convention “L’Italia dei territori”, an incubator event for the birth of the new party brought as a gift to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in an anti-Vannacci vein, by the self-styled Sicilian “sheriff” (with all due respect to his Campania namesake Vincenzo, the Democratic Party mayor and “sheriff” of Salerno, former governor of Campania and both the bane and the blessing of the Schlein-led PD). In turn, Meloni will visit De Luca’s camp tomorrow morning to seal what her ministers present at the event—led by Matteo Piantedosi—and Senate President Ignazio La Russa do not yet call an “alliance,” but describe as close dialogue aimed at “expanding” their base, with a farewell to the broad coalition.

Among those present are guests and representatives from the ‘lands in between’ targeted by Meloni’s much-heralded takeover bid: Liberal Democrat secretary Luigi Marattin and Calendian Ettore Rosato. They are speaking before a host of local councillors. Mayors, then, but of a different civic persuasion compared to their centre-left counterparts who also arrived in Rome a few days ago – though at the EUR district – for the General Assembly of Alessandro Onorato’s Progetto Civico Italia.At one point, the host Marco Di Stefano, head of Local Authorities for Noi Moderati, spells out the difference to De Luca: far from being ‘civic’, we are politicians and we stand by that. Here they are: they are the ‘Mayors of Italy’ from the movement led by former MP Ernesto Magorno, feted by ScN MP Francesco Gallo (who, together with the Melonian members ‘on loan’ to the new faction, Manlio Messina and Luca Sbardella, forms the sub-group within the Mixed Group that spares Cateno-Scateno – a telling nickname – from having to collect as many as 6,000 signatures per constituency, as required by the new electoral law for those without parliamentary backing).

And so, the day after tomorrow, the Prime Minister will bring with her not only herself but also something else: the centre-right’s stronghold, which imagines itself free from the spectre of Vannacco (and it is only at that moment that Cateno will unveil the symbol of the new party). In other words: it’s a done deal. Meanwhile, La Russa finds himself at the centre of another round of back-and-forth with historian Michela Ponzani, regarding his presence at the march during which police officer Antonio Marino died in 1973. Will he sue her? “I’ll think about it,” says La Russa, but it is a rather elaborate “I’ll think about it”.

Cateno, however, had already set out a sort of ten-point plan to the audience that morning, outlining what he has done and what he intends to do. It’s out of this world stuff, even though, as he emphasises, he doesn’t feel like he’s being ‘folkloric’: he dived into a swimming pool like New York’s Democratic mayor, he brought five tricolour sashes, and every time he enters a town hall, he takes a crucifix and a coffee machine with him, “because the good Lord must always be with us and because, as a true Sicilian, I’m mindful of the story of Pisciotta, the mafioso who escaped ambushes only to die from poisoned coffee in his cell”. Moreover, Cateno has governed Messina “without councillors” and acts as a facilitator between ScN and mayors across Italy. “We’ll work day and night; we’ll hold plenty of séances so that we can reach this synthesis,” he jokes. No more excuses, and woe betide anyone who says we’re “slaves to bureaucracy”.

And poor Meloni, “who found herself having to deal with the ‘faux pas’ and disasters of the previous government”. The question still hangs in the air: has Cateno arrived to dispel the spectre of Vannacci? “When Cateno De Luca was at Scn, you didn’t even know Vannacci,” says La Russa, thinking of the “Pillars of Hercules” of alliances that encompass multitudes: “Whilst the others argue, split and fragment, we are expanding without creating factions.” 

It falls to the Home Secretary, Matteo Piantedosi, to remind De Luca’s mayors what they can expect from the centre-right: “We have fewer crimes than four years ago”, landings “have been reduced by 80 per cent” and the Caivano model can be replicated elsewhere, he says in self-motivational mode. And what about the demonstrations? And the public squares? “It doesn’t end there. We must remain vigilant over the coming weekends too,” he declares, adopting a Cassandra-like tone. But optimism pervades the gathering, and it is too much for him to dwell on the danger that has been averted but is still present: the tactics used in the public squares, says Piantedosi, may have followed the Ceuta model. Evening falls; the day after tomorrow is another day (Meloni’s day).