For much of the past decade, Italy’s centre-left Democratic Party has served as the dependable linchpin of wobbly crisis cabinets, delivering responsible – if uninspiring – government. As the country heads to the polls on September 25, the party’s inability to capture the imagination of Italian voters is hobbling its efforts to prevent a right-wing landslide.
The chronic disappointments of the Italian left were famously captured a quarter of a century ago in a scene from Nanni Moretti’s movie “Aprile”, in which the enraged director shouted at his television screen while watching a popular chat show featuring Silvio Berlusconi.
