Chi Ce La Fa a Cento?: Rome's Electoral Grind, a Rail Strike, and Carroll Gardens' Race to Turn 100
Italy's Senate pushes its electoral overhaul toward a Wednesday floor vote as a 24-hour rail strike grounds trains and Ranucci takes his fight for Report to a labor judge, while a Carroll Gardens bakery nearing its own centennial lists itself for sale just as Little Italy counts down to San Gennaro's 100th.
Italy Today
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The Senate is racing to lock in Italy’s new electoral law by Wednesday. The Constitutional Affairs Committee approved the coalition’s amendment on preferences this week — the capolista stays locked in, but voters can now mark up to three preferences for everyone else with a simple X — voting continues today, with the full bill due on the Senate floor Wednesday.
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A 24-hour rail strike is grounding Trenitalia, Italo, and Trenord today into tomorrow. Workers walked out at 9:18 p.m. tonight through 9 p.m. Tuesday, demanding a new contract before December’s expiration and recognition of the job as “usurante” (physically taxing).
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Update: Ranucci’s fight to get back on Report now has a deadline attached. His lawyers filed an urgent appeal asking a labor judge to reinstate him before the show’s new season premieres November 8 — next up is September 17, when Rai’s board reconvenes with the show’s future back on the agenda.
Brooklyn Dispatch
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Update: Carroll Gardens’ bakery reckoning isn’t over — Mazzola’s is next. Just months after Caputo’s Bake Shop closed after 124 years and Ferdinando’s Focacceria got handed to a neighbor instead of a wrecking ball, Mazzola Bakery — open on Union Street since 1928 — has listed its building for $9.75 million, meaning the neighborhood’s last dough-and-lard institutions may not reach their own hundredth birthdays.
Review
“has listed its building for $9.75 million” — the $9.75M is real but is the combined asking price for two adjoining buildings (192 Union St. plus a neighboring property), not Mazzola’s building alone; the link is also to cfood.org, a source not in this brief’s frontmatter list. Suggested action: fix (clarify combined listing, cite a primary outlet).
Unverified
The $9.75 million listing figure traces to a single source, not independently corroborated here.
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Dyker Heights’ Italian-American hub is still teaching the language. FIAO Il Centro, on 18th Avenue, runs Italian language and culture classes for kids and adults alike — a fixed address for language learning in a borough where the Italian-born population keeps shrinking.
Arts & Culture
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George Clooney used his Venice lifetime achievement speech to invent a word for the moment. Accepting the Leone d’Oro alla Carriera alongside Ellen Burstyn, Clooney said “the people in charge… are telling us to fear one another,” floating “kakistocracy” — government by the worst of us. The Mostra runs through September 12, when the real Golden Lion gets decided.
Review
“alongside Ellen Burstyn” — both received career Golden Lions at Venice 83, but in separate presentations (Clooney’s presented by Laura Dern at the Sept 2 opening ceremony; Burstyn’s tied to a separate screening), not a joint ceremony. Suggested action: fix wording (e.g. “in the same edition as”).
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Update: Kolo Muani’s Juventus reunion opened with a whimper. The striker — back on a PSG deal structured as a loan with an obligation to buy, not the straight loan earlier reported — started the home opener against Milan Saturday and struggled through a 1-1 draw, with graders handing him a 5 out of 10 while Gatti’s late header salvaged the point.
Parola del Giorno
Parola: sciopero (noun, m.) — strike, walkout. From the Genoese dialect sciopei, “to be idle.” This week: the word behind today and tomorrow’s 24-hour rail strike. Usage: “Sciopero dei treni oggi e domani — meglio controllare gli orari garantiti.”
Parola: reintegro (noun, m.) — reinstatement. From Latin re- (“again”) + integrare (“to make whole”). This week: the legal term at the center of Ranucci’s appeal to return to Report. Usage: “Il giudice deciderà sul reintegro prima di novembre.”
Parola: centenario (noun/adj., m.) — centennial. From Latin centenarius, “of a hundred.” This week: the number both San Gennaro’s feast is celebrating and Mazzola Bakery is racing against. Usage: “Il centenario si festeggia solo se qualcuno tiene aperta la porta fino ad allora.”
Parola: armistizio (noun, m.) — armistice. From Latin arma (“arms”) + sistere (“to stop”). This week: Tuesday marks 83 years since the September 8, 1943 armistice, still commemorated as the day the war at home truly began. Usage: “L’8 settembre non fu la fine della guerra, ma l’inizio di un’altra.”
Takeaway
Takeaway
Rome measures endurance in days — a strike deadline, an amendment vote timed to Wednesday. Carroll Gardens measures it in listings: Mazzola’s hundredth birthday is now a real-estate question, not a certainty. Neither city reaches a centenario by accident — Naples’ saint gets his because ten thousand people still show up on Mulberry Street every September, and a bakery only gets there if somebody with the money decides not to sell.
Review Notes
Review
Frontmatter lists “Italian Food” as a source, but no body link traces to it — likely an orphaned or dropped citation. Suggested action: verify/fix.
Review
Brooklyn Dispatch and Arts & Culture each have only 2 bullets, below the template’s 3–5 floor. Suggested action: verify these were intentional or add supporting items.