Decaro is the "half" candidate and is trying (with Conte) to stop Emiliano who says: "I will be a simple friar"

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The political horizon of Antonio Decaro , "Mister 500,000" of preferences, MEP and reformist striker, is the wild card of the Puglia summer and beyond. His path, in this undefined phase between the autumn regional elections and the possible Democratic Party congress, is somewhat reminiscent of the cult dish of the ancient tavern in Bari, a true "refugium peccatorum" in the First Republic, "Il Gambero" of Bari Vecchia, or "minuicchi mare e monti": they combined fish with vegetables from the two scales, one for sailors and the other for farmers, that surrounded the innkeeper Minguccio. The indecision between an unimpeded advance to the regional government and the national battle for party leadership has made the Puglia space on the broad-based political chessboard one of the most complex, despite favorable results for Decaro (but also for any other Democratic Party leader who might take his place, starting with Senate group leader Francesco Boccia).

So, the leader of Bari's seaside suburbs is the natural candidate to succeed Michele Emiliano , his longtime mentor, but at the same time he has the "physique du rôle" to compete with Elly Schlein in the likely race for national leadership. So, in these sweltering August days, Antonio "mare e monti" (sea and mountains), from his retreat in his villa in Cala di Rosa Marina, is meeting with his loyalists and scanning his smartphone for the right path to break the impasse. The entire organizational machinery for the regional elections is frozen, waiting for him to "resolve the reservation," but this moment never arrives. "The wax wears out and the procession doesn't move," repeats in Bari dialect a veteran leader who has seen every season of the PCI-PDS-DS-PD. To break the deadlock, there are currently two unsolvable issues. The first: Decaro doesn't want Michele Emiliano and Nichi Vendola to run for regional councilors. “We will be simple friars,” explained the emir, while the AVS representative made it clear that the red-green list will be decided by his party, “in complete autonomy.”

Giuseppe Conte for the Five Star Movement and Matteo Renzi for Italia Viva have agreed on this objection. The two, distant and quarrelsome about everything, are now united by their hostility towards Big Mike's presence in the political arena. The former Tuscan prime minister is unequivocal: "Emiliano should resign himself and step aside." Second: in the coming months, the regional government will have to make dozens of appointments to boards of directors, local health authorities, and agencies, and the former ANCI president doesn't want to find the regional government already "militarily occupied" by the Sheikh's chosen men. Emiliano, in turn, is furious at this "veto" against his entry into the political arena, approved by Decaro in a mid-May meeting, before the Democratic Party's ruling class, at a restaurant known for its spaghetti all'assassina. And so the conflict continues to escalate (and not just in public), and the governor attempted to explain himself by citing his opponent's "psychological problem." "We're running to get him elected, so I don't see what problem there could be," he stated.

In recent days, Boccia, on behalf of Schlein and Praetorian Guard Igor "Taruffenko," also sounded out Decaro and Emiliano, but the report sent to the Nazareno doesn't signal any progress: their positions are irreconcilable. The tension in the situation also emerges from a very thorny phone call between Decaro and Nicola Fratoianni, secretary of the Italian Left, the party that first launched him into the post-Emiliano era. The former mayor, faced with a wall of resistance due to his objections, reportedly cut him short: "Find another candidate." Antonio "Mare e Monti," however, is already virtually campaigning, in the form of a literary tour: he's touring every corner of Puglia like a "pilgrim Madonna," invited to present his memoir, "Vivere." His schedule is almost the envy of top Apulian literary figures Gianrico Carofiglio and Mario Desiati, who, seeing him at every festival, now consider him a likely contender for the 2026 "Strega" Prize. Next week he will be in Carovigno, after having presented his work in Polignano a Mare, Bitonto, Bari, Lecce, Vieste, Bisceglie, Putignano, and Brindisi. A bestselling author, president of the Brussels Environment Commission, or governor-elect, Antonio "mare e monti" is the most closely watched and eagerly awaited "virruzzo" (spinning top in Bari dialect) in the progressive camp: and sooner or later he will have to tell the people of Apulia what he intends to do in the November elections.

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