PERUGIA – «Mending» and «participation», as «everyone’s mayor». Like commitment and watchwords. These are the most repeated words in the first declaration of Vittoria Ferdinandi, the first mayor of Perugia elected with 3,307 votes more than her opponent Margherita Scoccia, 52.1 percent against 47.1.
«Today Perugia wins. We have accomplished our miracle, but I have never had doubts, because I know and deeply feel the soul of this city”, she began, leaving her bunker in the electoral committee in via Trasimeno Ovest, where since the beginning of the vote she has only been party: stadium chants at every handful of sections. Jeans and a striped shirt, more than moved and determined, she reiterated that she knew that «Perugia would not have succumbed to the arrogance of power, it would not have succumbed to hatred and anger, but would have chosen those who for four months put the citizens back at the center of a politics made of hope.”
While she speaks for the camera before diving into the sea of supporters who have remained beside her all afternoon, the soundtrack comes from outside: carousels of cars honking, stopping in the street and waving. “It looks like the World Cup final,” she jokes. But inside the speech is serious and it is already a program: «This is the sign of a city that is awakening. And who wants to choose a policy that is truly made for the city. We have carried forward our idea of the city in a transparent, determined and coherent way. I am convinced this is the beginning of a great revival of a new political culture.”
In a collective victory, made of empathy and participation, he dedicated the result first of all “to all the boys and girls who have worked together with me in recent months to bring a new idea of politics”. But not only. In addition to her two wings, Andrea Ferroni and Francesca Zinni, there is another person who from day one has been much more than a presence: a lucky charm that has become a slogan. The talisman of his strength. «And then I dedicate it to my mother – she in fact reiterated, she who was my greatest teacher of humanity and humanity is the greatest value that we must put back at the center of the government of our city». With a reference also to the dream of her mother, who passed away years ago, who invited her to take the Perugians to the sea: «I promised, my Perugia, that I would take you to the sea and today, at the beginning of summer, I take you all and everyone at the seaside.”
There is no shortage of thoughts for those who did not vote for her, after an electoral campaign, especially in the last two weeks, in which the tones have risen. Never too much between the two candidates, but certainly between the citizens of opposing parties, with a city that seemed divided after the near draw in the first round. “I hope that from tomorrow – insisted Ferdinandi – we will be able to mend the tears that this irresponsible campaign has created. We have shown that we are the ones who mend, who keep united. We will be ready to work together with them, hoping that they will go in the direction of a responsible opposition and that they will put the good of our city back at the center”. A city that wants to wake up, become attractive “made of beauty and a soul that shines again”. Thanks, according to Ferdinandi, also to the broad field that supported her: “I believe that our political project has demonstrated this great novelty: parties, movements and civic forces that unite beyond any affiliation. We have shown that this coalition represents an element of wealth for us. The cornerstone of our political action will be participation, because for us it is not a slogan”.
And while the stadium choirs alternate with Bella ciao outside, everyone is at the party: Stefania Proietti, Anna Ascani, Giacomo Leonelli, Stefano Vinti, Walter Verini, Simona Meloni, Lamberto Bottini, Carla Casciari, even Massimo Monni and Tommaso Bori, who recalled how «all this was possible thanks to a new management group, choosing a strong, capable and authoritative candidacy» and with Thomas De Luca who spoke of «Perugia as a national laboratory of the wide field». But one of the first to arrive was Wladimiro Boccali, the last mayor of the Democratic Party before Andrea Romizi’s victory in 2014 in a run-off, lost – it is said – by his supporters who had gone to the seaside. “How is it going? Let’s win”, he predicted in the twentieth section examined. With the honor of being the first to announce on TV the victory of the city’s first mayor. And his curse of the sea became a celebration ten years later.
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