The centre-left 'broad field' alliance has held Emilia-Romagna and taken Umbria from the centre right.
The centre left's win in the Emilia-Romagna governor race is an emotional victory and the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) has been extraordinary in leading the winning alliance, PD leader Elly Schlein said after projections showed Michele de Pascale heading for a clear win, by around 55% to 40% for rival Elena Ugolini.
In Emilia Romagna, she said from election HQ on Rainews, it has been an "emotional and moving victory", with "an extraordinary fact that is emerging for the PD, the linchpin of the alternative to these right-wing parties".
She reiterated: "A beautiful, emotional victory, that of Michele de Pascale.
"He will be a great president of Emilia-Romagna. "Thank you for the passion and generosity with which you have spent yourself.
"It is the sign of a victory that is also the victory of a team and of cohesion".
"A sign of where we can get when we are united and compact around the objective", added Schlein, according to whom "an extraordinary result is emerging for the Democratic Party and this confirms what we feel is the linchpin for the construction of the alternative to these right-wing parties".
de Pascale told Premier Giorgia Meloni as his win became more apparent that they should meet up soon to discuss cooperation on relief, reconstruction and preventive measures after recent waves of devastating and deadly floods in the northern region.
"It has been a year and a half of political speculation, of clashes," he said.
"In our land people are afraid, businesses are wondering what they should do for their future.
"Political speculation must end with this election campaign and a new institutional collaboration for Emilia-Romagna must begin.
"I hope, in the next few days, to be able to meet the prime minister and mark a change of pace on this.
"Everyone must be available for a big change of pace".
While a win for the centre left had been a bookies' certainty before the election, with the northern region and Tuscany the only two regions never to have had a centre-right governor, the race in Umbria to the south was expected to be much tighter, and so it has turned out.
Centre-left Umbria governor candidate Stefania Proietti has an "unbridgeable gap" over incumbent centre-right Governor Donatella Tesei, Youtrend said, declaring Proietti the winner.
Proiett's slim edge gradually widened to 50% against 47% with respect to earlier projections, while earlier exit polls had put Tesei a tad ahead.
If the centre right is confirmed as winning both regions, it will be a much-needed fillip after narrowly losing Liguria a month ago.
Some 4.3 million Italians were called to the polls Sunday and Monday for the key regional elections in Emilia-Romagna and Umbria which were another test for the right-wing national government and the centre-left opposition after last month's election in Liguria which saw the centre right narrowly prevail despite its previous governor having to quit in a graft probe.
The centre-right candidates are backed by Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini's right-wing League party, and Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani's centre-right Forza Italia party.
The centre-left candidates are supported by the so-called 'broad field' of Schlein's PD, former two-time premier Giuseppe Conte's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), the Green-Left Alliance (AVS) of Angelo Bonelli and Stefano Fratoianni, and centrist groups Azione of former industry minister Carlo Calenda and Italia Viva (IV) of former premier and ex centre-leaning PD chief Matteo Renzi.
A centre-right win in Emilia Romagna would have been a seismic shock for the region, which with Tuscany is only one of two regions that has always leaned leftwards in the 54-year history of the regions, which were set up in 1970.
The centre-left candidate in the northern region, Ravenna Mayor de Pascale, was well ahead in pre-election polls of the centre right's Ugolini, an independent head teacher with roots in the Catholic activist group Communion and Liberation (CL).
The elections in Emilia-Romagna had been brought forward a few months after the election to the European Parliament of former centre-left governor and current PD chair Stefano Bonaccini, who in any case could not have stood for a third time.
In Umbria the centre right was bidding to retain control of the region which it took for the first time with the League's Tesei in an upset five years ago.
Incumbent Tesei, a civil and administrative lawyer who is the former mayor of the small town of Montefalco, was up against Proietti, an engineer and researcher who is the current mayor of Assisi and president of the province of Perugia.
The controversial right-wing mayor of Terni, Stefano Bandecchi, was running with his small right-wing Popular Alternative party but then switched his support to Tesei and could have swung the result in her favour, some pundits said.
Pre-election polls in the central region were too close to call.
Meloni was hoping the centre right's long winning run in regional elections, aside from one blip, would continue.
Since it took office two years ago her rightwing coalition has prevailed in 11 out of 12 local elections if June's European elections are included.
The sole previous centre-left win had been in Sardinia.
Voting in the two regions began at 07:00 Sunday and ran until 15:00 Monday.
Turnout was almost half compared to last time.
In Emilia-Romagna the election campaign was mainly animated by two issues: post-flood reconstruction and healthcare.
On both issues there has been a blame game: the Left accuses the government of not having given the promised reimbursements to the flood victims, of not having put enough money into environmental protection projects and of having heavily defunded the public healthcare system.
The Right accuses those who have administered the Region in recent years of not having spent the money that was made available by Rome and of having organized the public healthcare system in ways that have worsened its efficiency.
The most tense moment of the entire election campaign was on November 9 when in Bologna, near the station, there was a neofascist CasaPound march that was first opposed by a garrison promoted by the partisans group ANPI, then by a demonstration by student groups that clashed with the police.
A very harsh exchange of accusations and a very heated controversy followed, which pitted in particular the mayor of Bologna Matteo Lepore and Meloni against one another.
The premier accused the centre left of justifying violence against the police, a contention the centre left angrily denied, while saying the CasaPound demo should not have been allowed in the centre of a leftwing city like Bologna which in 1980 saw 85 people killed in the neofascist bombing of its train station, Italy's worst postwar atrocity.
In Umbria the campaign has also seen clashes on whether Tesei, a heavyweight in Salvini's nationalist and anti-migrant League, has run the region known as the Green Heart of Italy well since becoming the right's first Umbria governor in 2019.
Transport, health care and the environment have been the hottest electoral issues.
In 2024 the centre right has won in Abruzzo, Basilicata, Piedmont and Liguria, while the centre-left broad field could only previously boast the win in Sardinia.
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