ITALY: Red Rule in Fiat City

• Share

In the baroque council chamber of Turin's city hall—known as the Sala Rossa (Red Room) because of its lavish crimson brocade—Councilman Diego Novelli last week presided over an unusual ceremony. Because he amassed a higher vote total than Turin's 79 other councilmen in recent municipal elections, Novelli won the privilege of supervising the selection of a new mayor from among them for Italy's second largest (after Milan) industrial city. The outcome was preordained. When all 80 votes had been tallied, Novelli, the nervous, chain-smoking Turin editor of the Communist newspaper L'Unita, announced: "In keeping with the requirement for an absolute majority, I hereby proclaim the elected mayor of the city of Turin to be Councilman Diego Novelli." Thus amid pomp and glitter Novelli became the Piedmont city's first Communist mayor in 25 years, and Turin became the biggest city in Western Europe (pop. 1.2 million) under Red control.

Notable Gains. Novelli's election was the most notable of the Communist gains—made largely at the expense of the Christian Democrats—in Italy's regional and municipal elections last month (TIME, June 30). Last week also, Liguria joined the three regions of Italy's longtime "Red Belt"—Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany and Umbria—when a Communist-led coalition took control of the regional council. Red-dominated coalition governments are also expected to win power in the Piedmont region, Venice and possibly Naples.

The shift alarms the Christian Democrats, who fear that the Turin pattern is spreading across Italy like an oil stain and could even undermine the shaky national government's center-left coalition. Few citizens of the affected cities and regions appear to be concerned. One reason is that the new Communist officials could scarcely be more inept than the bumbling moderates they will replace. In Turin, for instance, one official of a previous Christian Democratic administration spent large sums to lay down a set of streetcar tracks; they were immediately paved over when another official declared the street one-way.

By contrast, the Communists have built up a surprisingly good record as conscientious, honest administrators in running such Red Belt towns as Ferrara, Modena, Perugia, Siena and Pisa. In keeping with Communist practice, Novelli will turn over his mayor's salary to the party and receive back a stipend equivalent to the wages of a skilled factory worker.

The most famous example of competent Communist government is Bologna (pop. 500,000), which has been party-run for 30 years. Under Mayor Renato Zangheri, 50, a onetime economics professor who last month was overwhelmingly elected to a second term, Bologna has almost become a model city. The town's historic center has been preserved by renovating housing with public funds and subsidizing rents to persuade people to live there. Draconian traffic controls ban automobiles from large sectors of the inner city; free rush-hour transit service further persuades people to leave automobiles at home. To aid working mothers, Bologna has built 300 nursery schools, which are maintained with municipal funds. "That Zangheri," says Novelli admiringly, "is a golden monster when it comes to administration."