Italy’s spring local elections have delivered a broadly stable map for the governing coalition, with one significant win: a crushing first-round victory in Reggio Calabria, which had been held by the centre-left for over a decade.
The centre-right has emerged from Italy’s spring local elections in a stronger position than many predicted, retaining Venice and pulling off a decisive upset in Reggio Calabria.
Exit polls, projections and early returns put centre-right candidates ahead in local elections in Venice and Reggio Calabria, the biggest cities up for grabs in a round of local votes in which over 6.6 million Italians were called on to cast ballots.
Venice holds and Meloni calls it “world-beating”
In Venice, the result was widely anticipated but no less significant for the governing coalition. An Opinio exit poll for state broadcaster RAI put centre-right candidate Simone Venturini on between 47% and 51% of the vote, well ahead of the centre-left’s Andrea Martella on 40–44%. Projections later put Venturini at 51.9%. The centre-right has governed the lagoon city for eleven years under outgoing Mayor Luigi Brugnaro.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had said before the count that winning Venice in the first round, without the need for a run-off, would be “world-beating.” Her coalition delivered precisely that.
Reggio Calabria: the night’s big story
The more striking result came from the toe of the Italian boot. The centre-right’s Francesco Cannizzaro looked set to cruise home in Reggio Calabria, with an Opinio exit poll putting him on 64–68%, compared to just 21–25% for the centre-left’s acting mayor Domenico Battaglia. Yoûtrend subsequently called the win for Cannizzaro. Projections later put his share at 69.9%.
The result represents a significant blow to the centre-left. The Calabrian capital had been under left-leaning administration since 2014, and the scale of the defeat far exceeded pre-election expectations. Forza Italia described Cannizzaro’s win as “extraordinary, after years of centre-left rule.”
Across the country
Across the 18 provincial capitals in play, the overall map changed less dramatically than the Reggio result might suggest. The centre-right held Arezzo, Macerata, Crotone and Lecco. The centre-left retained Chieti, Prato, Mantova, Pistoia and Andria. In Salerno, former Campania governor Vincenzo De Luca held comfortably for the centre-left, projected at around 60% of the vote. Messina returned an independent candidate for another term.
Two cities look set for run-offs on 7–8 June: Agrigento, where both blocs are level at roughly the mid-30s, and Avellino, where the centre-left holds a slight lead. In Vigevano, the Lombard city that attracted national attention over the Lega’s Muslim candidates, the candidate for Roberto Vannacci’s new hard-right Futuro Nazionale party took more than 14% of the vote. This was a striking overperformance against the party’s current national polling of around 4%.
Final national turnout stood at 60.06%, down almost five percentage points from the previous round, at 64.9%. The trend of declining participation continues to register across both blocs.
Meloni’s verdict
The Prime Minister was swift to draw the larger political lesson. “I extend my best wishes to the mayors elected in this administrative session,” she said in a statement. “They will have the task of accompanying their communities in the coming years, facing very important challenges. Good luck to everyone. P.S. And again today, the much-heralded collapse of the centre-right is postponed until tomorrow.”
Meloni has made clear that she does not regard the local vote as a test of the national government, whose five-year term runs until autumn next year.
