At the Green Alliance and Left party rally, ‘the alternative’ gathers, though it remains without a programme or a leader. From the crowd, people shout: ‘Get a move on!’, in thick Roman dialect. Surprise: the Greens like Silvia Salis

At the red-green rally, opposition leaders demonstrated unity and issued a challenge to Meloni: “There is an alternative.” Policy was discussed, but the leadership issue remains. The Schlein–Conte rivalry has shifted to the centre, while Renzi divided the coalition.

“You cannot expect to disarm Kyiv at such a delicate stage, but the serious question to ask is: was and is sending weapons the only way to help it? And could the EU not have acted as a deterrent in some other way?”

The election in Saxony, the ‘black threat’, is uniting the left, which is gathering today on the stage at Avs in Rome. But within the opposition, analysis of the election results is dividing opinion, whilst the Movement’s close ties to Sahra Wagenknecht come to mind – ties that could now lend a hand to the AfD.

The leader of Italia Viva, speaking at the Ambrosetti Forum, discusses the broad coalition: “We are not part of it; we are part of the centre-left.” On next year’s elections: “It makes sense to hold the election next May. Could Giorgia Meloni stand alongside Vannacci? In my view, no – she’d lose face.”

The General Assembly of Controcorrente and Progetto Civico Italia is becoming the testing ground for a new political alliance. The PD, M5S and AVS are no longer enough, say the civic groups: an independent civic force is needed to broaden the base and try to defeat Meloni

The Roman councillor takes the field (in a big way): “We’ll be there for the primaries. We’ll set out our programme and manifesto straight away. We want to reclaim the issues that the centre-left has culpably ceded to the right. Starting with security: we need more prisons.” The proposal on nurseries

The argument that primaries are divisive is unfounded. Primaries are one of the most effective tools for creating an alternative. The ‘Francesco Piccolo’ motion to scrap them is self-defeating and distances the broad coalition from a mirror called reality.