In the 2022 general election, the centre-right had promised an ambitious reform: a presidential system. Over time, this idea was watered down, first into a semi-presidential system, then into a ‘premierato’ system, and finally into a reform that provides for the nomination of the prime ministerial candidate in the coalition’s manifesto.

“It’s a shame, but that’s how it is,” says the former prime minister, admitting that defeating Meloni is what holds the centre-left together. On Appendino: “She says she’ll veto me; we don’t put forward candidates who have been definitively convicted, like her.” On the primaries: “If the vote is in November, we’ll hold them in May; if it’s in June, we’ll hold them in February. Between Conte and Schlein, I’d vote for her in a heartbeat.”

The former Prime Minister and President of the Constitutional Court, interviewed at the ‘Festa dell’Ottimismo’ in Florence: “The only thing that might warrant criticism is the issue of signatures per constituency, which have risen from 1,500 to 6,000. It’s a spiteful move against someone, bordering on the unreasonable.”

The Defence Minister: “What frightens me most is the weakness of our air defence. With low-cost drones, even a group of terrorists could cause us problems.” And on Italian politics: “Early elections? I’m not aware of any.”

The European Commissioner for Cohesion, interviewed by Il Foglio in Florence: “The approval of European flexibility on energy is a very positive sign of cooperation and realism. What about flexibility on inflation? They are assessing the issue and its impact on deficits and markets. Vannacci? I won’t comment on domestic politics.”

The Vice-President of the European Parliament at the Festival of Optimism: “Bring back the centre-left and the reformists will return. With Conte, Italy will no longer send weapons to Kyiv.”

The former European Commissioner for Economic Affairs at the Festival of Optimism: “On Kyiv, I agree with the secretary; the centre-left alliance must come to terms with the fact that the PD has a very clear position. The US President’s attraction to Putin is, to me, incomprehensible.” 

The PD secretary, interviewed by editor-in-chief Claudio Cerasa, asserts: “Either the candidate is nominated by the party with the most votes, or there must be a primary. We don’t need a moderate candidate; they’ve been telling us that for 20 years, causing us to lose.” What would be the first measures of a hypothetical Schlein government? "The minimum wage and energy costs." And on Ukraine? "Defending it is the priority of a major left-wing force."

Artificial intelligence has learnt from our texts, but now it is we who are imposing our language on it. Amidst pre-packaged phrases, detectors and an obsession with efficiency, the real risk is losing precisely what makes a human voice recognisable

The manager of the Under-21 national team has always been held in high regard by fellow coaches, but opposed by politicians. He is a forward-thinking manager, a trailblazer in his day. He has a rare talent for working with young players. He has demonstrated this once again with the Azzurri

The President of the Constitutional Court, speaking at Il Foglio’s ‘Festival of Optimism’, recalled the rulings on the Calderoli law and the law relating to the Renzi reform: “It was considered that the uncertainty being complained of constituted a legitimate interest in bringing proceedings, and I imagine a similar course of action will be taken with regard to the law that has just been passed.”

“Italy is facing a series of disputes that need to be addressed as a matter of urgency. The emergency measures are therefore welcome. We need a broad vision, which we do not see. None of the other trade unions are fanning the flames of the protests,” says the CISL secretary at the Festa del Foglio.

Amid terrorism, polarisation and new forms of manipulation, Western democracies appear more fragile than ever. Yet history reminds us that they have already weathered far more tangible threats, and that the ballot box has prevailed when it seemed impossible.

Sonja Caramagno, president of ICF Italia, explains how mental coaches work and why training in physical fitness, technique and tactics may not be enough. But note that “coaching is not psychotherapy or psychology; it does not make diagnoses and does not treat disorders”.

A review of Costanza Rizzacasa D’Orsogna’s book. The loss of Milo and her father forces the author to confront her grief head-on, without taking any shortcuts, until she transforms the void into an opportunity to start afresh. This is where the Japanese art of kintsugi comes in – the art of piecing the shards back together.

The revival of basketball in the capital. The city derby between Maxima and BC Roma returns on Sunday. It has not been held for forty-six years, since the Eldorado Lazio v Acqua Fabia Roma match on 27 January 1980.

The scientists stopped off at the M5S headquarters to speak to Conte and Todde. Did they give them a telling-off, given that Sardinia is, in absolute terms, the worst-performing region in Italy in relation to the Pniec targets? Not at all.

Altneuland is being published in Italian for the first time under the title “Altneuland”. It is a description, in the finest detail, of the society that Herzl envisaged the Jews establishing in the land from which they originated, finally sheltered from the ravages of anti-Semitism that were increasingly plaguing Europe 

In "Bestie di mamma", Goudreault uses the page as a stage for the performance of a voice that is body – that is, dynamic matter that moves between the literary and the oral, slang and the canon, rap and literature, flow and density

 The reform currently being considered by the government could blur the line between small businesses (many of which are members of Confindustria) and craft businesses, which are currently subject to a lower threshold for the number of employees. Although this would not entail a change in employees’ employment contracts. This is why business associations are speaking out

We keep asking ourselves which jobs artificial intelligence will ‘replace’, as if the future were to take the form of a list of professions that have been done away with. In the short term, it is perhaps more interesting to look at something less dramatic: the breakdown of work into responsibilities that can be delegated

Tommaso Cerasuolo discusses ‘Risuona’, the album on which the Piedmontese band reworks ten international songs. From the lessons of De André to the metre of ‘Only You’

Lermontov, too, met the same fate as Pushkin and died in a duel that many believed to have been ‘orchestrated at the very top’. It is a terrible story of a country that cannot protect its poets, and also of those who, like us, forget them