The centre left has retained the
mayoralties of Florence and Bari, according to returns after
run-offs Monday, and has won back Perugia from the centre right
to sweep all five regional capitals up for the vote including
Potenza and Campobasso.
In the Tuscan capital, centre left candidate Sara Funaro has
beaten centre right candidate Eike Schmidt, the German former
director of the Uffizi Galleries and current head of Capodimonte
in Naples, with Funaro becoming Florence's first female first
citizen.
In the Puglia capital Vito Leccese has been elected ahead of the
centre right's Fabio Romito.
Centre left Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schlein phoned the
new Florence and Bari mayors to congratulate them on their
victories.
Funaro's predecessor, PD member Dario Nardella, said "Sara will
be a very great mayor".
Funaro said she was thrilled to be the first woman mayor of
Florence.
"I'm a bit excited, I say that sincerely," she said.
"I feel the very great emotion of all these months, of being the
first female first citizen of Florence.
"It has been a very long and very beautiful marathon," said
Funaro.
Funaro dedicated her win to her late grandfather, the former
mayor of the Great Florence Flood of 1966, Christian Democrat
Piero Bargellini (1897-1980).
"From afar I'd like to tell him a phrase that has always stayed
in my heart, when he used to say that he had made so many
declarations of love for Florence that he had to marry her.
"I'd like to tell him 'today granddad I'm marrying her too',
this wonderful city. I'll give my all to do the best for
Florence, I'll be the mayor of all Florentines, male and
female".
Leccese, the new mayor of Bari, said "thank you Bari, it is a
great victory, beyond all expectations".
He said "we are only at the beginning because the hard work will
start only from the proclamation.
"It is an extraordinary result, which goes far beyond my
expectations".
In Perugia, capital of Umbria, centre left candidate Vittoria
Ferdinandi won by about 53%-47% over the centre right's
Margherita Scoccia after the weekend's local election run-offs.
The other two regional capitals voting, Potenza in Basilicata
and Campobasso in Molise, also went to the centre left, the
latter by a whisker.
Marialuisa Forte, in fact, beat Aldo De Benedettis by 51% to
49%.
In Potenza, on the other hand, Vincenzo Telesca beat Francesco
Fanelli by 65% to 35%.
The biggest city on the roster in Sicily, Caltanissetta, went to
the centre right.
The centre left retained Cremona by 191 votes.
The turnout for the run-offs was 47.71%, down from 62.83% in the
first round two weeks previously.
photo: Funaro
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