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"What I regret is that the pandemic prevented me from being with my people over these months. I count on making up for this soon precisely because I believe that in order to restore perspective to politics, we need to bridge the gap between politicians and the community."

Telos: Every time someone talks about the direct election of the Prime Minister, people use the very evocative expression “Mayor of Italy”. So, is it true that Mayors have, in the administration of their own city, more power than the Prime Minister has today?

Leonardo Latini: Public affairs are handled on two very different levels. Clearly, the more the administration distances itself from the local area, the more it has to step in with general measures. You ask me which level has more power… We need to clarify what it means to exert power. In the second post-war period, Adriano Olivetti proposed a central government model based on local communities. He argued that the ideal size of each community, and therefore of each administrative body, should be no more than 100,000 inhabitants. In a community of this size, he said, there could still be participation, control and effective management. Any larger, and everything gets more complicated.
So yes, if we understand power as the ability to impact directly and specifically a community’s necessities, needs and expectations, this would lead us to think that this power is more easily exerted by a Mayor in a small- to medium-sized city rather than by the Prime Minister of an entire country.
But this is only theory, because, in reality, we local administrators increasingly feel like our hands are tied by ropes and chains put on us from above and, what’s more, we feel frustrated because we collect the problems and concerns of our fellow citizens, because we are on the frontline. So, the job of the mayors and local administrators should also be, actually should mainly be, to represent the needs of the territory before the higher levels of public administration. The duty of governments and higher bodies should be to listen to local administrators and heed their advice and demands, because the connection between the central government and the local area is essential. Also, or better, mainly in terms of the distribution of resources which should be inspired by real principles of subsidiarity. Therefore, the Prime Minister – excuse the joke – more than the Mayor of Italy, should be the Mayor of Mayors...

The breakdown in the party system has very likely been the source of people’s widespread anti-political sentiment. And yet this gap between citizens and politics is not nearly as wide when it comes to the Mayor. Are your citizens still passionate about politics?

I am a mayor from the League party. The experience of the League was historically born of the attempt to mend the relationship between citizens and politics, between the people and politics, as well as between the local territory and the bodies that represent them at all levels.
This is what I’ve been and still am the most passionate about, also considering my personal political and cultural education. This is why I am happy to be the Mayor and to be a mayor for the League in this particular moment in history, because the challenge has never been more open, it has never been more important to keep communities united, to make citizens feel like they are part of something, to reinforce an identity, achieve a goal, build a participatory and shared future. Unfortunately – or fortunately, who knows – the public institutions, especially the local institutions, no longer have same funds available that they did in the past.
For now, we need to broaden participation and subsidiarity as well as involve citizens, associations and the business world. This is why it is our job to re-ignite political passion, in a broad sense, in the city. What I regret is that the pandemic prevented me from being with my people over these months. I count on making up for this soon precisely because I believe that in order to restore perspective to politics, we need to bridge the gap between politicians and the community. Regarding my city, Terni, I am well aware of the fire burning beneath the superficial disillusionment and disappointment that has built up over recent decades and I am ready to make sure this energy is not wasted.

This is your first time as public administrator and being the Mayor certainly is not easy, especially in a city that for 19 years in a row had an administration of a different political part. What obstacles did you not expect to face and what, instead, made a more positive impression?

I knew, we knew, that we would have to run the city of Terni during a very tough crisis, also because we inherited an institution that had been declared to be bankrupt, with all the consequences imposed by law, which also forced us to have to govern along with an Extraordinary Liquidation Body which, in fact, handled the liquidation of accumulated debts.
But what we didn’t know was that, in addition to this, to having to handle a crisis of the city’s industrial system that had been going on for more than ten years, we would have to also deal with the economic effects of the pandemic.
But this is the situation and we have learned that you have to cope with emergencies with courage and, especially, with vision.

You have been the Mayor of Terni for three years now. You took office on 26 June 2018, and now is time to take stock of what you have done but with still enough time to do a lot more. What do you see yourself doing over the next two years?

The National Plan of Resilience and Recovery (NPRR) is indeed a very important opportunity that we have tried to seize with great determination by presenting 23 projects for Terni. However, the ideas and projects certainly did not come out of nowhere, nor were they envisioned exclusively for the Plan. Instead, they are projects that fit right into our vision of the city. A vision we have been furthering since the beginning of our term: a greener, smarter and more innovative city and – in general – more dynamic and attractive. With the NPRR – trusting that the resources arrive – we will be able to get our ideas up and running far more quickly. It is no coincidence that, of the projects we are focussing on, many regard digitalisation.They will help improve the services of the public administration by making citizens’ lives easier. They will also be useful to facilitate economic activities and local businesses. Among all the negative effects of the pandemic, one thing it taught us is actually how to best use new technologies to optimise office activities in terms of organisation and procedures and to provide cheaper and more efficient services. And this needs to be sped up considerably. Naturally, we will continue to look for ways to support our projects besides just the NPRR using any line of financing, whether it be through the Regions, Ministries or the EU.
For example, this is what happened with the Hydra project for mobility and hydrogen, which was thought to be strategic even at the national level. So, in this sector, like the electric mobility sector, Terni is on the cutting edge, and even ahead of the line of the government recently announced by Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Sustainable mobility and the ecological transition are massive, worldwide challenges, but – if I may – they are even more challenging for Terni. In general, we think a greener Terni not only means a less polluted city, but also a city with a better quality of life and therefore more attractive. A more intelligent Terni, with more innovative services, more space for research – like the scientific hub we are planning – and better inserted into the greater transition processes. Terni has to once again be a city that can offer jobs and opportunities for young people.
The other big project regards the creation of infrastructure to ensure the city is more attractive to the sports and entertainment industry. We are finally building a large sports facility that we have designed to be an all-purpose facility suitable for concerts and performances.
We are already quite far along in building new bike paths and cycle lanes that will connect the city to its marvellous surrounding areas, to Valnerina, Spoleto and Assisi and to the Narni Gorge and then Rome. We want our main tourist attraction, the Marmore Falls, to have new infrastructure that is environmentally friendly, by building a lift and navigation system that connects to Piediluco Lake.
So, there is a lot to do, and a lot of projects that are already underway. All with one common denominator: make sure that Terni is once again on the cutting edge as it was for many years in Umbria and Italy and that it is once again proud of its roots and of its quality of life.
In short, we have to play offence, like our local football team, Ternana, which triumphed at the championships this year…

Marco Sonsini