An Italian friend in Washington, D.C., when I said I'd be spending a month in the Italy, gave me two assignments. She asked if I would take in as much as I could so that when I got back I could explain to her what's happening in (1) Italian politics and (2) in the economy. That's all. No small request, especially of someone who's still trying to sort out names and places and is going there to work on the language. But she did ask, and I'll be reading and talking to people about this stuff anyway, so why not. It just calls for a little chutzpah, which James Walston (in his excellent blog on Italian politics) suggested may, in fact, be an old Italian word.
As if to help me get started before I get there, Philippe Ridet, Le Monde's Italy correspondent, has a nice profile of a relatively new actor on the Italian national political scene. This is Matteo Renzi, the mayor of Florence, and the latest to try to recharge the center-left Partito democratico (PD). Renzi is challenging Pier Luigi Bersani, the current party secretary, in the PD primary to be held on 25 November and 2 December. Recent polls put them about even. Apparently much is being made of Renzi's youth -- he's 37 -- and of his challenge to the party's old guard. Bersani is 61. The winner will represent the party in national elections expected for sometime early next year.
My sense is that the PD could use new energy. It will be interesting to see how Renzi's campaign develops and how others react.
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