Matteo Renzi struggles to hold on to power as the election nears

THEY like their food in Modena, a city on the foggy flatlands south of the River Po that gave the world the Ferrari, Luciano Pavarotti and a restaurant, the Osteria Francescana, that was voted the best in Europe last year. As people gathered for a fundraising dinner in the suburb of San Damaso, a delectable aroma wafted through the sports hall where it was to be served. And among the pleasures it betokened was the sweet taste of revenge.

The dinner was for a new party, Liberi e Uguali (Free and Equal, or LeU), founded last year by politicians who had left Matteo Renzi’s governing, centre-left Democratic Party (PD). Some of the rebels objected to his business-friendly policies; others complained of his ruthless marginalisation of the party’s old guard, including the night’s main speaker, Pier Luigi Bersani, who led the PD until 2013. Mr Bersani insists his differences with Mr Renzi are political. “He has taken the PD—my PD—torn out its roots, and taken it elsewhere,” he says as he waits...Continue reading

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