Enrico Letta, under the stage, is crushed between the hugs of the dem leaders and the requests for selfies from the militants. A few meters behind the shoulders of the secretary Pd the door of Santi Apostoli, the historic seat of the Olive tree of Romano Prodi. Not a casual place. Excited to come back here? “We have chosen Santi Apostoli on purpose,” Letta told Adnkronos. And he adds: “Symbols matter”. A good omen for the future? “I’m sure of it,” replies the secretary dem.
“We must not get our heads” however, he repeats to all interlocutors. But today “we won and proved that we could be a winning alternative,” says Letta with a bottle of champagne in an envelope. “It’s a gift from a big fan of ours and we’ll drink it tonight.” The dem general staff converges in piazza Santi Apostoli to celebrate the return to the helm of the Campidoglio with Roberto Gualtieri. From Nicola Zingaretti to Dario Franceschini passing through the group leaders in Parliament, Debora Serracchiani and Simona Malpezzi, and then the deputy secretary Peppe Provenzano, Francesco Boccia, Matteo Ricci up to Goffredo Bettini and many others.
But there are also the exponents of the coalition that won in Rome: from Federico Fornaro and Loredana De Petris from Leu and then, among others, Stefano Fassina and Bobo Craxi and also Luciano Nobili from Italia Viva. In the square the flags of the Democratic Party with those of the Socialists, of the Left Civic Ecologist list. The center left returning. An alignment in which “the role of the Democratic Party is that of the leading and federating party”, says Letta.
Gualtieri, ‘Enrico is the right guide, he will be surprised for the next few years’
“I want to reassure all the allies that the generous and federative attitude of the Democratic Party does not suddenly change according to the results”, assures Letta. The work has just begun and the declared goal is “to keep together all those who have been our allies in these administrative offices” in view of the policies. From Renzi and Calenda up to 5 Stars.
For the secretary of the Democratic Party it is possible and the voters themselves demonstrated it in the vote: “The voters who are ahead of us, the center-left electorates have joined together in a broad coalition that I stubbornly wanted to build”. Although when Gualtieri in the square mentions Virginia Raggi, some whistles start from the crowd. The new mayor of Rome, for his part, raises the need to unite: “Uniting the center-left is possible, you can win in Rome and you can win even when there is a national challenge because the country must not return to the right”.
And he thanks Letta for “the right guide. Enrico will be the surprise of the next few years”. On the small stage, hastily set up for an improvised square, the mini mayors elected in the municipalities of Rome climb: all won by the center-left except one. “We are no longer the party of the Ztl”, Letta is keen to underline. Waving of flags and ‘Bella Ciao’ that spontaneously leaves the square to close the celebrations. (by Mara Montanari)
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