Florence, 28 June 2024 – The pen that rests gently on the sheet for a dedication, the tricolour sash that passes from mayor to mayor, Dario Nardella that is moved, Sara Funaro who looks at you telling you with determination that this is “one of the most intense moments of my life”. The intensity of the moment that is handed down to history because in 100 years the kids will study this moment in school, the moment that can be eternal, in which Sara Funaro officially becomes mayor.
It is the first time that this has happened to a woman and that is why everyone wants to be present in the Hall of Clement VII in Palazzo Vecchio, where the story of another great woman, Caterina de’ Medici, is present. Nardella, in the book of dedications, addresses Florence: “Dear Firenzecity on the Hill, second Jerusalem, cradle of Mediterranean civilization, I discover today, on the day I leave the office of mayor, that I love you deeply, as I love myself. I leave you, full of joy and gratitude, in the tenacious and loving hands of the first female mayor in your history”. Nardella says: “I leave with the serenity of having given my all. Sara will do better than me and the good of all Florentines”.
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Florence, Sara Funaro takes office: “One of the most intense moments of my life”. Nardella’s emotion
It is known that the outgoing mayor gave his pen to Funaro. Funaro also received, from his mother, a guide who Piero BargelliniFunaro’s grandfather and then councilor, left the mayor Giorgio La Pira. Bargellini (who later became mayor of Florence, was the mayor of the flood), addressing La Pira, defines himself as a “haunting councillor”. Remaining impassive is difficult. Even professionals are first and foremost people and this is why Nardella’s tears, before saying goodbye, are not surprising.
“Florence is a unique city – explains Funaro -. To govern a city like Florence the first characteristic that must be there is to love it. Dario has done it in these 10 years”.
The mayor tells an anecdote: “I had gone to visit two men over 100 years old as I had promised, while I was on my way to go” to one of them “there was a part of the city completely blocked because an underpass had flooded. At that moment I had the instinct to pick up the phone to call Nardella. Then I said to myself: ‘No, I can’t call Dario now, I’m here now’. That was the moment I realized that being the mayor of Florence means being responsible above all for all the city’s issues”.
For the arrived there will be time: Funaro already has a good percentage of the team in mind but it is clear that this is not a day in which we can talk about it. The next few days will be dedicated to work and meetings. The future will be dedicated to things to do because this city must improve and Funaro knows it. But June 27th goes beyond all this: it is the story in the tricolor band, of a sunset and the dawn of a new path.
