It was November 5, 2021, there was the Draghi government, Enrico Letta was secretary of the Democratic Party and in Rome, a month earlier, Roberto Gualtieri had been elected mayor, after the center-right had committed suicide, nominating a radio speaker expert in administrative law , which spoke confusingly about ancient Rome at every turn.

A palace birthday

For many years Goffredo Bettini had not celebrated his birthday so publicly, with so many guests, each representing a piece of Roman and national power. Political exponents who, in his intention, should have given life to the future centre-left coalition. The event was impressed, for future reference, by Dagospia photographer Umberto Pizzi. Everyone was there, from the then culture minister Dario Franceschini, accompanied by his wife – at the time regional councilor and now deputy – Michela De Biase, to Andrea Orlando (now centre-left candidate for the presidency of the Liguria Region), from the then deputy secretary dem Peppe Provenzano to Nicola Zingaretti (at the time second president of the Lazio Region, then resigned prematurely to be elected deputy and, finally, European parliamentarian). Then there were also representatives of other parties, from Gianni Letta, gray eminence and undersecretary to the presidency of the Council of all Berlusconi governments, to the leader of the 5 Star Movement Giuseppe Conte.

The silence of Beppe Sala

There is also a nice video still circulating online which shows Conte’s arrival who, seriously late, is amiably mocked by Bettini himself who calls him “Luigi” for a strange slip of the tongue. Then, becoming more serious and almost affectionate, just before embracing Conte, he says thoughtfully, “Personal relationships weigh. The historical compromise failed, Chiaromonte told me, because Berlinguer no longer trusted anyone after Moro’s death.” The parallelism already at the time seemed extreme and exaggerated, the historical Moro-Berlinguer compromise compared to the Pd-5 Star Movement alliance. But all those present smiled amiably and nodded their heads, nodding to the wise Bettini. And more than anything, those absent remained silent. Including Giuseppe Sala.

Not even two years have passed and the scenario has changed. The center-right won both the political elections – Giorgia Meloni has governed since September 2022 – and the regional ones in Lazio, with Francesco Rocca of Fratelli d’Italia as president since February 2023. In the Pd house Elly Schlein has become – contrary to all predictions – national secretary and Bettini himself found himself taken aback, having supported the losing candidate Stefano Bonaccini who then got himself nominated and elected in Europe. Finally, in Rome Gualtieri’s mandate begins to arouse the first complaints from citizens, amidst the numerous construction sites open around the city and the consequent disservices.

The “Roman” part that manages power

Something has changed, some would say. And with events, the attitude of some members of the Democratic Party towards Goffredi Bettini has also changed. The latter, however, lived not as a party leader capable of making his contribution to the political debate, but as a leading exponent of that “Roman” faction of the party that manages power and which must be opposed. And the symptom of this changed disposition within the Democratic Party is provided by the mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, who reacts – in a somewhat disorganized manner – towards Bettini himself on the matter relating to the nomination of the new president of the ANCI , the national association of Italian municipalities. Dispute that sees two mayors of the Democratic Party opposing each other, on one side Stefano Lo Russo, mayor of Turin and on the other Gaetano Manfredi, mayor of Naples. According to Sala, Bettini would have done his utmost to sponsor the mayor of Naples. And he would have done this thanks to his relationships with the various potentates of the party, leading Sala himself to state, “The thing that doesn’t work is that a decision like this is taken in the living room of the Bettini house”.

The climate in the Democratic Party has changed

Poor Bettini, who according to him wasn’t even at his house, replies that he hasn’t taken part in social events for years – in reality he was recently spotted at the presentation of Dario Franceschini’s latest literary work, to the side of which he also stayed away to talk to the secretary of the Democratic Party Schlein – and who at most organizes his birthdays with friends. He then specifies that on the occasion reported by the press to which Giuseppe Sala refers, he was not even in his living room, but at the home of the Rutelli-Palombelli couple, his friends, or rather almost relatives due to the affection that exists between them. But that’s it.

The fact remains that it is no longer November 5, 2021 and the climate within the Democratic Party has changed. And we can glimpse a certain diatribe within the Democratic Party between a “northern” faction and a “Roman-centric” one. The ANCI affair could only be the first of a long series of disputes, waiting to understand whether the “Largo Field” – often dreamed of by Goffredo Bettini – has been definitively archived by history, or if there are still pious hopes. And more than anything, it remains to be understood what the alternative project is to the alliance between the Democratic Party and the 5 Star Movement. The next regional lessons will clarify the situation better. Meanwhile, best wishes in advance to Goffredo Bettini.