ROME LETTER:There is a lot of politicking in Trevignano right now as people debate how the eternal Italian right vs left battle will shake down
LARRY LIZARD is your man. If you were ever in doubt about the arrival of spring, just trust in Larry.
So there I am a couple of weeks back, anxiously poised over some memorable prose for your delectation, when in drops Larry. He just comes round the studio door, straight out of the garden without so much as a “How’s she cuttin’, Paddy?”
Now given the manifold volumes of priceless literature stored in the Agnew studio, we tend to discourage Larry and the boys. You never know what priceless article – good for recycling – the little blighters might destroy if they get in behind the storage files.
It is at this point that my very own home-grown “Coalition Of The Willing” appears on the scene to settle issues.
The two family dogs love nothing better than a chase around the garden after Larry and the lads. Given Nato engagement rules about bombing civilian targets, the dogs are more than responsible. Despite a fierce amount of whelping and tail- wagging, Larry usually gives them the slip and disappears into a crack in the garden wall, much to their puzzlement.
If Larry did not serve to let us know spring had arrived, then even the most casual observation of village life would make the point. For a start, everywhere you look, plants and trees have been trimmed, lawn mowers have been cranked back into action, garden waste is burning far and wide and clean-up preparations for the long, hot summer down on the beach are under way.
If all that escaped you, there is another sure-fire indicator this spring – namely the local elections. There is a lot of politicking in the village right now.
People are to be seen huddled in conspiratorial little groups outside Hermete’s bar or by the newspaper kiosk or in front of the Commune, debating just how the eternal Italian right vs left battle will shake down (At the moment, the Berlusconi-led centre right is in power). Indeed, more importantly, people are debating who gets which job if and when a certain “lista” wins.
This year – the local elections come every five years – we had a remarkable novelty in Trevignano, near the capital. Given that the various factions of the left, in time-honoured leftist fashion, usually fail to agree on anything (time of day included), they opted this time to hold their first ever “primaries” so as to end up with a single leftist candidate for mayor.
I am not quite sure how it works in Iowa and New Hampshire, but I suspect it requires more than just €1 to earn the right to vote in the primaries there.
However, that was the way it went here. Anyone, provided they coughed up €1 and showed some sort of official ID, got to express their opinion. All you had to do was turn up at the ad hoc polling booth, appropriately stationed in the town square, right in front of Hermete’s bar.
Given large numbers of the Romanian community, not all of whom are village residents, were persuaded to vote, that left us with the intriguing situation whereby people with no vote in the actual election (you have to be a resident to vote) got to have a potentially decisive say in picking the candidate. A case of democracy working overtime, you might argue.
In the elections themselves, due next month, the left will run under a “Democratic Alliance” banner, led by an ambitious young candidate in Luca Galloni.
The alliance also includes Andrea Luciani, an old friend who only 10 years ago was playing for Serie A football team Lazio in Champions League games against Anderlecht and Sparta Prague.
By standards of this area, (remember, we live in the Lazio region and there is no shortage of Lazio supporters in the village), Andrea’s qualifications for public office are clearly impeccable.
Democratic Alliance meetings have been hard to ignore, since they literally spill out on to the main street. You see, the meetings usually take place in a currently unused, small commercial premises that opens on to the street.
This means that if any sort of crowd (more than 25) turn up, then it is standing room only – on the pavement outside, looking in and straining hard to hear the speakers.
What are the issues, apart from the obvious ubiquitous concerns about schools, health services and traffic?
Well, contaminated tap water, incentives for local tourism and, above all, the (over-) activity of the local building industry should concern everyone around here. It remains to be seen if they do concern them.
Larry Lizard is watching.