Administrative elections in Florence: who are the candidates and what they propose for the Tuscan capital
One seat and ten candidates. The race for mayor of Florence is very crowded. The Palazzo Vecchio seat is contested by: Sara Funaro (centre-left coalition), Eike Schmidt (centre-right coalition), Stefania Saccardi (Italia Viva), Cecilia Del Re (Firenze Democratica), Lorenzo Masi (M5s), Dmitrij Palagi (coalition led by Sinistra Progetto Comune), Francesca Marrazza (Firenze Ribella), Andrea Asciuti (Firenze Vera), Alessandro De Giuli (Firenze Rinasce) and Francesco Zini (Firenze Cambia).
The latest Ipsos polls indicate a head-to-head between the center-right candidate, Eike Schmidt, at 37.3, and Sara Funaro of the Democratic Party at 34.2, between them only three percentage points. In this context, which would lead towards a run-off, the votes of Renzian Stefania Saccardi are crucial, today given 12.5%.
THE PROGRAM OF SARA FUNARO (PD) FOR THE RACE IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF FLORENCE
The candidate of the center-left coalition Sara Funaro imagines a Florence in the plural, fair, sustainable, safe, future and accessible to all. A psychologist by profession, since 2014 you have assumed the role of welfare councilor in the Nardella council. Supporting his candidacy are the Democratic Party, the Italian Left, + Europe, Action, the Greens, Volt, the Republican Party, Labour, the Center movement and the Anima Firenze 2030 list. “The objective of Florence is not to look back to return to a past great – we read in Sara Funaro’s program -.
Florence has always been contemporary, it looks forward, it is not afraid of change although its identity is written in the stones of its magnificent buildings and monuments. Change is a continuous process and requires new responses to new needs.” There are five challenges that the centre-left candidate intends to take on to give her fellow citizens a “Florence in the plural”. First of all the “fight against climate change and the necessary urban transformations to mitigate its effects, which otherwise tend to be passed on to the most fragile people, as well as the costs of an ecological transition that is not managed well”.
Then Funaro addresses the issue of the aging population in a city that has “37,000 under 14s and 100,000 over 65s”, a transformation that “is the result of the birth rate decline” and which puts the welfare model at risk. Central to his program is the “housing question”, a matter linked to the need to make Florence “a livable city for workers, and not just ‘visitable’ and therefore the relationship between income and work”. Next, the Democratic Party candidate’s program moves on to the quality of life and “our development model”. Finally, the great challenge of “metropolitan Florence” because “thinking about development in a municipal key appears, even in the case of a large and populous municipality like Florence, simply incongruous and outside of any factual reality”.
FLORENCE ADMINISTRATIVES: EIKE SCHMIDT’S RECIPE
The candidate of the united center-right is Eike Schmidt, who led the Uffizi Galleries for eight years. German from Freiburg, 56 years old, he also became an Italian citizen last November and now directs the Capodimonte Museum in Naples. He is supported by Fratelli d’Italia, Lega and Forza Italia. Security and decorum, culture, mobility and housing policies are among the most substantial chapters of the center-right candidate’s program. The historic center of Florence, among the most frequented by tourists, has often been at the center of media attention due to the difficulty of maintaining an adequate level of urban decorum.
“A permanent observatory on urban safety will be established, which will serve neighborhood associations and committees to directly and quickly collect and report citizens’ observations, encouraged to monitor safety near their homes through proximity monitoring,” we read in the program. The quality of the cultural offer will be encouraged through the promotion of “all the museum spaces existing in the 14 historic districts of Florence (often little frequented and almost unknown”. The housing emergency is linked to the theme of a certain type of tourism.
“The Municipality of Florence owns approximately 8,000 Public Residential Building (ERP) apartments, of which only approximately 7,000 are used, while approximately 800 remain vacant – we read in Eike Schmidt’s program -. Others (around 300) are located in other municipalities in the belt which, with the change in regional law, use them for their lists of eligible beneficiaries”. The solution is to implement “a vigorous investment in the sector of public housing and student residences at affordable prices, both through the restoration of properties currently in an uninhabitable state and through the conversion of empty buildings”.
STEFANIA SACCARDI: SAFETY, DECORUM AND VOUCHER FOR RENTALS IN THE FLORENCE ADMINISTRATIVE PROGRAM
Stefania Saccardi is the candidate of the coalition led by Italia Viva for the seat of Palazzo Vecchio. Today you hold the position of vice-president and councilor for agriculture of the Tuscany region, when Matteo Renzi was mayor of Florence you were the councilor for welfare of his councils. Her candidacy is supported by Italia Viva, the Socialist Party and Libdem. “I am running for Mayor to combine these two vocations of our city, because the Florentines ask for it, because they deserve it – we read in Saccardi’s program -. I am running for Mayor because in the next five years citizens will be able to relate to a person who wants to listen to them and try to solve the problems they encounter on a daily basis.” The Italia Viva candidate’s program also dedicates a lot of space to the theme of urban decorum and safety.
“Walking through the city it is possible to observe how there are still many situations that deny the idea of the beauty that Florence represents: high traffic roads with uneven stones (which are a great risk especially for those who use scooters and bicycles), faded horizontal signs , broken pavements, bent or crooked road signs, abandoned or old barriers, signs of road works not well represented, poor maintenance of greenery in public gardens, poor lighting in some areas – writes Saccardi -. For all this, a dedicated office is needed: the “urban decoration office” made up of a group of operators from the environmental, public works and municipal police departments, who will go around the city collecting reports, observing and intervening within 48 hours”.
The theme of safety goes hand in hand with that of decorum. “Phenomena like that of the former Astor hotel in Florence must never be repeated,” writes the Italia Viva candidate who suggests “acting in cooperation with the Public Security Authorities to control the territory in an increasingly widespread manner. For this reason, it will be necessary to proceed with the renewal of the 2018 Pact for Safe Florence, signed at the time by the Mayor, Prefecture and Ministry of the Interior”. One of the solutions proposed to address the issue of the housing emergency is the delivery of vouchers “for citizens with an insufficient income for housing on the free market”, contributions provided “directly to the citizen” and bound to “pay the rent (or , for example, additional fees such as condominium expenses, which are increasingly expensive)”.
THE PLURAL FLORENCE OF CECILIA DEL RE
Cecilia Del Re, a forty-one-year-old lawyer, was councilor for economic development and urban planning in the Nardella council from 2017 to March 2023. You left the council and the Democratic Party last March because you were not granted primary elections to choose the mayor’s candidate. The problem of protecting residents from city tourism is also present in Cecilia Del Re’s program. For them, you are thinking of a “24 hour restricted traffic zone to protect residents” and an “agreement with Autostrade for free tolls for Florentines on the city stretch”. Hers is a plural Florence, which is why she would like to introduce “representatives of foreigners invited to the City Council” and a “progressive remodulation of the Irpef”.
THE PROTECTION OF FLORENTINE RESIDENTS BY LORENZO MASI (M5S)
Lorenzo Masi, candidate of the M5S, third sector professional and outgoing municipal councilor of the 5 Star Movement, was among those who worked hardest to find, without success, an agreement with the Democratic Party to propose a united candidacy. Masi, like Del Re, also includes protection tools for Florentine residents in its program, such as “a tourist police against illegal activity, bivouacs and tourist malpractice”. To this he adds preferential rates on taxis for residents.
THE FIVE CIVIC CANDIDATES
The other five candidates are the Florentine Dmitrij Gabriellovic Palagi, 36 years old, in the city council since 2019 with the Sinistra Progetto Comune coalition, a list for which he is also running supported by Possibile, Potere al Popolo and Rifondazione Comunista. Francesca Marrazza is the mayoral candidate of “Ri-Bella Firenze”, a civic list born from the network of citizens’ committees. Andrea Asciuti, 46 years old, former Northern League member, left the Northern League in controversy with Salvini over the Green Pass and the vaccine. He is the candidate of Firenze Vera, supported by Alemanno Indipendenza and the Popolo della Famiglia. Alessandro De Giuli, 64 years old, is an organizer of the no-euro movement Liberiamo l’Italia and is running with the Firenze Rinasce civic list. Finally, Francesco Zini is an academic and is running with the Firenze Cambia list.
