Calvignano: eighty voters, nine mayoral candidates. And only one resides in the town

Calvignano, May 22, 2025 – Just over one hundred inhabitants and just under one hundred candidates running to win a seat as mayor. Calvignano , a municipality in the province that has 111 inhabitants accustomed to living on the hills of Oltrepò Pavese , between Casteggio and Montalto Pavese where the air is good and the food even better, will go to the polls on Sunday and Monday to elect the mayor and the city council.

In February, in fact, the mayor Marco Casarini , who at the head of the “Calvignano futura” list had won the last elections with 90.91% of the votes, died after shooting himself in his restaurant and now it is necessary to renew the municipal administration which until now has been in the hands of the deputy mayor Andrea Doria who has decided not to run.

Instead, nine candidates wanted to do it, each of which must be supported by a list composed of a minimum of seven and a maximum of ten aspiring councilors, in addition to those running to win the tricolor sash . There are 94 aspiring councilors in total, practically one for each voter . Indeed, in truth, even a tenth list initially seemed to want to run, then, numbers in hand, it was realized that perhaps it would have been an exaggeration and they stopped at nine.

The percentage of voters is increasingly low, but in the case of Calvignano all the passion for politics is “imported”. Of the nine lists in the running, only one is made up of locals , while the others have perhaps fallen in love with the two streets of the small 12th century village. Someone in the village is also letting it slip that the idea of ​​running for office could be a ploy to take a holiday in the hills and, if elected, benefit from 30 days of freedom from any occupational activity.

“Whoever is elected, I hope they care about the territory” they cut short Calvignano. Many new things, therefore, will appear on a ballot paper where the continuity with the current administration is represented only by Rossano Gramegna of “Calvignano futura“ who can count on a majority of candidates who were part of the list that had won the previous round. “I am the only candidate from Calvignano” Gramegna points out perhaps with a little pride.

He had been an opposition councilor and last year he resigned to run for the Pavia administrative elections Luca Omodeo Zorini who is trying to conquer the municipality at the head of “Lombardia Ideale“. A real estate agent who lives in the Mirabello neighborhood of Pavia, Omodeo Zorini is 46 years old and, not having been elected to Palazzo Mezzabarba, he is running for Calvignano. “A serious person and an excellent local administrator”, comments the regional councilor of Lombardia Ideale and former candidate for mayor of Pavia, Alessandro Cantoni. He is at the head of the civic list “Insieme“ Gianluca Pugliese and of another civic list “Voto libero“ Daniele Germano . The “Movimento Italia più bella“ has expressed Giuseppe Bilotta as its candidate, while the “Movimento democrazia sociale“ is grouped around Raffaele Sarcina . Endo Giarin is at the head of the civic list “Uniti per cambiamento Calvignano“ and Federico Picerno of “Progetto popolare“. Roberto Di Bartolo from Pavia is a candidate for “Calvignano civica - Alliance for the territory and federalism“: “Even the most beautiful places need care and attention, I want to work with an administration that is close to the citizens”