It was November 5, 2021, there was the Draghi government, Enrico Letta was the secretary of the Democratic Party, and a month earlier in Rome, Roberto Gualtieri had been elected mayor by nominating a radio speaker specialist after the center-right committed suicide. in administrative law, who speaks confusingly about ancient Rome at every opportunity.

palace birthday

For many years Goffredo Bettini had not celebrated his birthday so openly, with so many guests, each representing a part of Rome and national power. Political representatives who, according to their own intentions, should give life to the future centre-left coalition. The event was influenced by Dagospia photographer Umberto Pizzi for future reference. Everyone was there, from the then culture minister Dario Franceschini, to his wife Michela De Biase, to Andrea Orlando (currently a center-left candidate for the presidency of the Liguria Region). then deputy secretary dem Peppe Provenzano to Nicola Zingaretti (then the second president of the Lazio Region, later resigned prematurely to be elected as a member of parliament and eventually as a European parliamentarian). Then, all Berlusconi governments had a gray post up to the Council presidency and representatives of other parties, from undersecretary Gianni Letta to 5 Star Movement leader Giuseppe Conte.

Beppe Sala’s silence

Also, a nice video of Conte’s arrival is still floating around the internet; Bettini was seriously late and was amicably mocked for an odd slip of the tongue by Bettini, who called himself “Luigi”. Then, just before embracing Conte, he becomes more serious and almost affectionate, saying thoughtfully: “Personal relationships prevail. Chiaromonte told me that the historical reconciliation failed because Berlinguer no longer trusted anyone after Moro’s death.” At the time, the parallel was that compared to the Pd-5 Star Movement alliance, the historical Moro-Berlinguer compromise seemed extreme and exaggerated. But all those present smiled amicably and nodded their heads at the wise Bettini. And most of all, those who were not there remained silent. Including Giuseppe Sala.

Not even two years have passed and the scenario has changed. The centre-right won both political elections (Giorgia Meloni has been in power since September 2022) and regional elections in Lazio; Francesco Rocca of Fratelli d’Italia has been president since February 2023. all predictions – the national secretary and Bettini found themselves stunned by supporting the losing candidate Stefano Bonaccini, who later nominated and got himself elected in Europe. Finally, in Rome, Gualtieri’s post begins to receive the first complaints from citizens, with the numerous construction sites opening around the city and the poor services that result.

The “Roman” part that commands power

Some might say things have changed. And with the events, the attitude of some members of the Democratic Party towards Goffredi Bettini also changed. But the latter lived not as a party leader who could contribute to political debates, but as a leading representative of the party’s “Rome” faction, which commanded power and had to be opposed. And symptomatic of this changing trend within the Democratic Party is the way the Mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, reacted – in a somewhat messy way – to Bettini on the issue of the nomination of the new president of the ANCI. National association of Italian municipalities. The dispute between two mayors of the Democratic Party opposing each other; On the one hand, the mayor of Turin, Stefano Lo Russo, and on the other, the mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi. According to Sala, Bettini would do his best to sponsor the mayor of Naples. And he may have done this thanks to his relationships with various authorities of the party, prompting Sala to say: “What does not work is that such a decision is taken in the living room of Bettini’s house”.

The climate has changed in the Democratic Party

Poor Bettini says that he has not attended social events for years because, in his opinion, he is not even at home; in fact, he himself was recently seen at the presentation of Dario Franceschini’s latest literary work, and he also stayed there. The secretary of the Democratic Party was away to talk to Schlein, and he was organizing birthday parties mostly with friends. He later states that in the incident reported in the press that Giuseppe Sala mentioned, he was not even in the living room, but at the house of the Rutelli-Palombelli couple, their friends, or rather almost their relatives, because of the love between them. between them. But that’s it.

The reality is that it is no longer November 5, 2021, and the climate within the Democratic Party has changed. And we can see a certain debate within the Democratic Party between a “northern” faction and a “Rome-centered” faction. The ANCI affair may be only the first in a long line of debates waiting to understand whether the “Largo Field” that Goffredo Bettini often dreamed of has been definitively archived by history or whether pious hopes remain. And most importantly, it is necessary to understand what the alternative project is to the alliance between the Democratic Party and the 5 Star Movement. The next regional lessons will clarify the situation better. By the way, my best wishes to Goffredo Bettini.