Claudio Corrarati Mayor of Bolzano, the center-right at the helm of the city after 20 years

Claudio Corrarati is the new mayor of Bolzano. Supported by the center-right coalition, he was elected with 51.03%. Juri Andriollo of the center-left was defeated, with 48.97%.

In Merano, however, Katharina Zeller of the SVP won. The 34-year-old outgoing deputy mayor beat the outgoing centre-right mayor Dario Dal Medico .

The real winner, however, is abstentionism . Turnout dropped to 42.8% in Bolzano and 41.4% in Merano. At the end of the first round, Corrarati had a 9% advantage over Andriollo, who went to the ballot without any apparent results. Paul Köllensperger 's Team K did not want to give any voting instructions either.

After 20 years the centre-right returns to lead the city of Bolzano (web)

05/19/2025

The center-right is heading for its first success in the capital of South Tyrol, after Giovanni Ivan Benussi exactly 20 years ago , who however did not find a majority and went down in history as the 'mayor of May'. The SVP, indispensable guarantor of a stable majority in the City Council, declared itself blockfrei, outside the blocks, in the run-off, justifying the decision with the professional collaboration with Andriollo in the last legislature and with the fact that also with Corrarati "there could be a profitable collaboration in the interest of the city". A significant part of the party of the South Tyroleans, especially from the economic and agricultural world, did not hide too much their sympathies for Corrarati.

The 57-year-old former president of the Cna of Trentino Alto Adige is considered a moderate and an expression of the economic world. The road to the formation of the new Government is therefore much less insidious than the one on which Benussi. In fact, today SVP and the center-right are governing the autonomous Province together. And it is only a few weeks ago the important agreement with the Meloni government for the reform of the Alto Adige Autonomy.

Katharina Zeller of the SVP supported in the second round by the PD is the new mayor of Merano (@tgrRai)

05/19/2025

Interesting in terms of future politics in South Tyrol is the success of Katharina Zeller in Merano . The daughter of art (her mother is the SVP senator Julia Unterberger and her father the former senator Karl Zeller) surprisingly came out on top in the first round and then won the run-off, after having received the support of the center-left candidate for mayor, Ulrike Ceresara, and the Democratic Party . The town hall thus returns to 'German' hands, but the 34-year-old lawyer represents a new generation of South Tyroleans. Zeller in fact feels close to the eco-social world and has always cultivated dialogue with the other linguistic group. For this reason, already in the first round, she was supported by the 'Italian' civic list Merano coraggiosa. lottaggio. The polling stations closed at 10 pm and the counting began.