Under the banner of “Rinascita”, between Conte and Bettini (and Gualtieri), with an eye to 2027.

The occasion (last night), at the Visionaria Urban Fest in Garbatella, was the phased launch of “L’impero del disordine”, the first issue (in its second life) of the historic left-wing magazine: “Rinascita”, which took off a few months ago under the editorial direction of Goffredo Bettini, the deus ex machina and pillar of the PD, not only in Rome. The event, under the watchful eye of editor-in-chief Federico Lobuono, is a celebration of ideas – articles written by intellectuals and politicians from across the political spectrum, exploring our unstable world “which is not the exception, but the rule”.

But the occasion, in the pages of the magazine that seeks to foster dialogue amongst a broad spectrum of readers moving – albeit not always at breakneck speed – towards 2027, a year featuring both local and global elections, is also shaped by the people involved: the former Five Star Movement Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, invited to discuss war, peace, Europe, international affairs, elections, algorithms, order and chaos (and ways to keep the centre-left united) with Bettini himself, as well as with the journalist and philosopher Ida Domjanni and Massimiliano Smeriglio, Councillor for Culture for Roma Capitale, moderated by Agnese Pini. This is no coincidence: a few days earlier, Democratic Party Mayor Roberto Gualtieri (ready to stand for a second term) had visited the same venue – a sign that the smaller and less turbulent broad coalition in Rome wishes to extend a lifeline to the more turbulent and extensive national broad coalition. Rinascita, says Smeriglio, nurtures “the ambition to contribute, first culturally and then politically, to the aim of fostering debate within the broad coalition, whilst maintaining a certain freedom in engaging with different cultures and worlds”.

In Rome, despite the M5S’s previous opposition to the Gualtieri waste-to-energy plant, relations between the parties are more cordial. Outside Rome, the situation remains uncertain. Meanwhile, talk of primaries is in the air. “Regardless of what each of us thinks,” says Smeriglio, “they now seem inevitable. And so, at this stage, the discussion can move from ‘primaries: yes or no?’ to ‘primaries: how?’”. Meanwhile, yesterday saw the start of this endeavour: “The generous attempt by leaders and activists from the PD, the M5S and the Civic-Ecologist Left to forge a common narrative that may then serve the broader political spectrum”.