Budgets
It is unlikely to be a right or left issue. Practically everywhere the administrative vote of 8 and 9 June confirmed the mayors of the flood: therefore, continuity won. And probably something more: the community. Faced with the catastrophe of May 2023, Romagna united, giving confidence to those who interpreted the institutions in the moment of maximum emergency.
Forlì is even a surprising case (but not the only one): the centre-right mayor Gian Luca Zattini – the first ever non-leftist – won the second mandate with 50.6% of the votes in the first round, despite his rivals have played many of their cards precisely on flood management. “In the days of the emergency I was shoveling, they were crying, they were locked in the office and didn’t know what to do”, were the harsh words of Graziano Rinaldini (centre-left), referring to the various moments in which Zattini had been publicly moved. The mayor had been contested by the committees and even criticized by a relative (Giacomo, son of a cousin), a candidate of the 5 Star Movement. Yet the majority held, tested by the vote, even in the most affected neighborhoods.
The trend is also confirmed in Cesena, where the advantage of mayor Enzo Lattuca (Pd) is even clearer in the areas near the Savio river which flooded on the afternoon of May 16th. Also in the Cesenate area, Mercato Saraceno and Roncofreddo have also re-elected the ‘flood mayors’. And what to say about Modigliana: in 2019 Giancarlo Dardi – known to all as Jader – had won the elections by less than a hundred votes (42% total), only because the centre-right had split. The country of 7 thousand landslides, literally devastated a year ago, returned to the vote confirming it with 69.8%. “There is a day that I will never forget – he says today –: it was May 19th, we were still isolated. The town hall was without electricity: I went out, I felt like crying. But it was the people who consoled me”. An emotional turmoil, albeit different, experienced on Monday: “Of course, I was excited. I felt gratified, because the effort was recognized. Even that of keeping the community together.”
Dardi lives in Castelbolognese, in the Faenza area, where water has submerged the garage and basement of his house. He claims “that he rarely argued. Only when the appointment of the commissioner was late. By the way, I greatly appreciate the work of Figliuolo and his structure, as well as of the Region: we are making a concerted effort, we are trying to work as a team. First of all, I I feel part of the institutions. We have enormous work to do.” Among the few positive things, perhaps the only one: the flood brought citizens and administrators, representatives and representatives closer together. “Yes, I would say so.”
There are other virtuous examples in this sense. Civitella, also in the Forlivese area, has a hilly area plagued by landslides, with several isolated companies: the mayor Claudio Milandri – a veterinary profession, a transversal civic figure – was re-elected with 80.5% of the votes. Similar problems in the hills surrounding Predappio, where already on 2 May 2023 a house was destroyed by a landslide: Roberto Canali (centre-right) confirmed himself with 71.6%. In the Ravenna area, Lugo and Conselice were submerged in water for days: new mayors in Lugo (Elena Zannoni) and Conselice (Andrea Sangiorgi, former councilor) but in the name of continuity (both centre-left).
