"Me, Emiliano's son? The image is a bit overblown": Decaro's sting and the masochism of the Apulian Democratic Party.

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Among the olive trees and cool beaches of Puglia, a wild Tafazzi, wearing a rainbow bandana and holding a Democratic Party membership card, wanders: in one of the few Italian regions where Elly's party is already on top of the upcoming elections, a no-holds-barred duel is unfolding between the progressives' gubernatorial candidate Antonio Decaro and the incumbent Michele Emiliano . The latest episode took place on the stage of the "Il libro possibile" literary festival: the former mayor of Bari presented his essay "Vivere" (Living), interviewed by Selvaggia Lucarelli. After rambling on the genesis of his literary work, his work in Europe, tariffs, and green issues, Decaro hesitated a bit when asked about his political future. And almost forced, after days of skirmishing, he took a stone out of his shoe, slamming Sheikh Michele, guilty of wanting to run for the regional council , which he said would overshadow his vision of "renewal." Here's his answer: "I'm not stalling. On July 16th, it will be a year since my election to the European Parliament; I got there with the support of 500,000 people. I work on environmental issues..." Pressed by Lucarelli ("So you're not running?"), he's forced to elaborate: "I'll listen to the citizens, I'll listen to my mother. Emiliano says I need a psychologist? Michele is a friend of mine. The newspapers are trying to overstate things; I could say he's like a father, but it's better to say I'm his son. The image of Emiliano's son is a bit overused right now. I could be his younger brother, yes, come on." The joke hits the nail on the head. Emiliano announced a few weeks ago that he's expecting a new partner and a father. So, like in a serial novel, after recommending the psychologist bonus to Decaro and recalling that his candidacy had been approved by the MEP himself in two meetings with witnesses (a substantial denunciation of his political unreliability), he now has to endure a scathing retort from his rival, with an ironic reference to his private life.

The clash between the emir and the engineer from Torre a Mare has been the focus of the Democratic Party's national leadership for days: Emiliano, in the future, would like to run for the next general election but doesn't trust Decaro's assurances and so aims to arbiter his next challenge, keeping a foot in the Regional Council (where the other former governor, Nichi Vendola, will also be present) . The Apulian landscape is increasingly becoming a nativity scene filled with ancient figurines, to the point that Decaro's father, Giovanni, the former Socialist municipal councilor, confides to his friends: "But why would we carry the cross?" The Nazarene, historically, rarely enters into political issues that transcend Ofanto and for now has chosen to postpone a moment of confrontation with the two belligerents: Elly Schlein's position is postponing everything until after the complicated Ilva dispute has been resolved. Any internal squabble, after all, would seem to be an unacceptable underestimation of a crucial issue for industrial development and the future employment of over 20,000 workers between Taranto and Genoa. For the next episodes of the soap opera (which the center-right watches immobile, bereft of ideas and a challenger candidate), almost written by a Milan Kundera with turnip tops, it's enough to imagine the outline of a book with this title: "The Unbearable Masochism of the Southern Democratic Party."

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