Gualtieri launches his bid for a second term, with a very broad field of candidates, ranging from the M5S to Azione. And Schlein applauds

“Let’s all (men and women) move forward with Gualtieri”. This is the message on the double-sided placards distributed both outside and inside the Auditorium on Via della Conciliazione by volunteers from “Per Roma con Gualtieri”, an app and grassroots citizens’ network that collects – and will continue to collect – stories of real life in Rome to support the outgoing mayor’s re-election campaign from the ground up. And so says the mayor, Roberto Gualtieri of the Democratic Party: “Let’s all move forward”, as he announces his bid for a second term from the heart of Piazza Pia – a symbol and a springboard for further work over the next five years. He means this in the broadest possible sense, both literally and in a hyper-political context: everyone, that is, all the parties in a very broad coalition that has also been extended to include the Five Star Movement and Azione. Indeed: “Our friends from the M5S and Azione”, as he calls them. Seated in the front rows are the former councillor – formerly of the Democratic Party and now a member of the Calendian movement – Alessio D’Amato, Rome secretary of Azione; Azione MP Valentina Grippo, vice-chair of the Culture Committee; and Five Star Movement members Francesco Silvestri, Linda Meleo, Paolo Ferrara and Daniele Diaco. The aim, the mayor repeats whilst standing on stage and speaking off the cuff, “is a city that moves forward with a broad, progressive and democratic centre-left alliance – one that is innovative and also open to those who have a civic vocation but do not wish to align themselves with a particular party”.

Gualtieri is referring to civic groups in general, and also to those gathered around ‘Progetto Civico Italia’ by Councillor Alessandro Onorato. Now PcI is a political party and Onorato has said he is ready to stand in the primaries, hence the doubt that has been circulating – sometimes controversially – over the past few days, right up until Thursday: should Onorato resign or not? But Saturday morning brings a wave of enthusiasm and Gualtieri thanks the civic groups, whilst Onorato, in turn, will say: “We will stand alongside Gualtieri to win in the first round”.

Also appearing in the audience, enthusiastic about the broad alliance, is Democratic Party secretary Elly Schlein, preceded by the party’s secretariat coordinator, Marta Bonafoni. “We support Gualtieri’s second term,” says Schlein, “including in what he has stated is intended to be an effort to further broaden the majority that supports him. We will stand by his side.” And it almost seems like a different centre-left altogether – this one in Rome that is united across the spectrum of the broad coalition and beyond the Pillars of Hercules of the political centre: in the audience, in fact, are Renzi supporters Luciano Nobili and Marco Cappa, the leader of Più Uno, Ernesto Maria Ruffini, and the Civic Ecologist Left, represented, amongst others, by the Councillor for Culture, Massimiliano Smeriglio, and the President of the 8th Municipality, Amedeo Ciaccheri – all just a stone’s throw away from the Calendians and the Five Star Movement, alongside the Democratic Party’s Matteo Orfini and Beatrice Lorenzin and theformer Democratic Party governor and MEP Nicola Zingaretti, as well as local PD secretaries Enzo Foschi and Daniele Leodori, flanked from a distance by the renewed endorsements and the renewed determination to run “with Gualtieri, full steam ahead” from Più Europa secretary Riccardo Magi and AVS co-leaders Nicola Fratoianni and Angelo Bonelli.

It almost seems like a different centre-left altogether, not least because Schlein applauds, almost moved, whilst outside, in the wider political landscape, progress is certainly not being made in great strides (primaries: yes, no, perhaps – not to mention the wall separating the centre-left from the centre-centre). Those who had hoped Gualtieri would unite the centre-left let out a sigh, but the door remains half-open for the optimists: if Schlein says she supports ‘the further expansion of the majority’, and if the Calendians seem open to dialogue, perhaps thoughts are already turning to the post-election period (a deadlock scenario)? The rest, on stage, is a push forward – by Gualtieri – and pride in what has been achieved (by Gualtieri).

Images of “Vite di Roma” flash across the screen (there’s the lady who “finally has a home” and the veteran stagehand from the Teatro Valle who is returning there following its reopening). This is the format implemented by volunteers from the aforementioned app ‘Per Roma con Gualtieri’, an idea launched by the Democratic Party MP and key figure in the mayor’s inner circle after being inspired by Zohran Mamdani’s door-to-door campaign in New York. Footage of Mamdani singing ‘Bella ciao’ during Gualtieri’s visit to the US also plays, whilst the mayor looks back on his five-year term with journalist Serena Bortone, and calls onto the stage the colleagues who have helped him with the project for a city ‘of neighbourhoods’, with a focus on green spaces (the mayor explains in detail the ‘care’ given to the tree-lined parks), the suburbs – areas to be revitalised with more libraries and study rooms – and transport (cycle paths, cycle paths, cycle paths). For his second term, however, “people will be at the centre”, says Gualtieri. He also promises further work on the underground network, even if the works were to extend beyond his term of office. “The far-reaching transformation” of Rome must continue. Priority: “The fight against inequality”. Then: “Pushing for a green, public city and sustainable mobility; we will not be intimidated by the rhetoric of the right”. “I’ll give it my all, but we cannot bring about profound change on our own”. And here is the slogan: “With Gualtieri, let’s all move forward”.