Italy’s Ruling Class Has Found Its Plan B
Genoa’s mayor, Silvia Salis, is being touted by Italy’s liberal press and economic establishment as the natural challenger to Giorgia Meloni. The campaign isn’t really about defeating Meloni but about taming the coalition that might replace her.
Genoa mayor Silvia Salis has no democratic mandate for becoming the new leader of the Italian center left, but she has been identified as a harmless, pro-establishment centrist. (Emanuela Zampa / Getty Images)
Almost four years after taking power, Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia is still Italy’s largest party. Yet in recent months, the polling lead for Meloni’s right-wing coalition has been steadily eroded — and political setbacks have now started coming.
In March, voters rejected a planned justice reform in a national referendum. Meloni’s once-warm relationship with the Trump administration has also become a liability given the US president’s deep unpopularity in Italy, and it has cooled into mild friction as Washington’s rift with Europe widens. Recent surveys also show Meloni’s base weakening among working-class voters. With national elections due in 2027, it’s no longer certain that her right-wing coalition can hold onto power.
This is the political backdrop against which Silvia Salis, a forty-year-old former Olympic hammer thrower, has gone from local mayor of Genoa to anti-Meloni candidate-in-waiting.
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