Franchi Tiratori: Meloni Survives the Secret Ballot, and Brooklyn Readies Its Parade
Italy's new electoral law cleared its final secret-ballot vote in the Chamber, ending a week of government-survival suspense. Meanwhile Rome's film festival gets its Monica Vitti poster and Brooklyn lines up for Columbus Day weekend.
Italy Today
- Update: the cliffhanger has an ending. Our last brief had the Chamber heading into a Thursday secret ballot that could topple the government. The Chamber approved the new electoral law with 227 votes in favor, and Meloni declared “the center-right is united”. Nobody had to pack for the Quirinale.
Review
“approved the new electoral law with 227 votes in favor” — single-sourced numeric claim that I could not corroborate (searches only reached Oct 7 coverage; the July first reading passed with 217 and the Oct 8 confidence vote on article 3 with 228) — verify against the Chamber’s record or add an unverified flag
- The opposition calls it a truffa. Il Sole 24 Ore reports the opposition protested in the chamber, calling the law a “scam,” while Meloni says Italians “can now choose everything”. Whether “everything” includes preference voting is another matter: an earlier amendment on preferences was voted down in a secret ballot.
Brooklyn Dispatch
- Parade weekend. The Columbus Day Parade marches up Fifth Avenue on Monday, October 12. Bensonhurst traditionally holds its own parade on 18th Avenue, the Saturday before.
Unverified
No 2026 date for the Bensonhurst parade could be confirmed; Saturday, October 10 is inferred from past years.
- A new corner of Carroll Gardens. Il Quartiere, a small Italian shop run by an uncle and his nephew, has opened at 371 Court Street. Court Street’s Italian old guard is thinning, so a family-run newcomer is worth a visit.
Unverified
Single source; a second search turned up nothing on the shop.
Arts & Culture
- Rome’s red carpet has a muse. The Festa del Cinema di Roma runs October 13–25, with Paolo Genovese’s Il rumore delle cose nuove opening. This year’s official image honors Monica Vitti on the 95th anniversary of her birth, which is the right call: no one did the exasperated glance better.
- Bardem gets the career prize. Javier Bardem will receive the festival’s Premio alla Carriera. A Spaniard on a lifetime-achievement stage in Rome; Italians will graciously allow it.
Parola del Giorno
Parola: franchi tiratori (noun, m. pl.) — snipers; in politics, members of a majority who secretly vote against their own side. From French francs-tireurs, “free shooters,” irregular fighters of the Franco-Prussian War. This week: used in coverage of the secret ballot on the electoral law. Esempio: “Il governo temeva i franchi tiratori.”
Takeaway
Takeaway
A secret ballot is the one place where loyalty can’t be performed, which is why Rome sweated over it. Brooklyn’s parades work the opposite way: belonging is announced in public, in a sash, on Saturday and again on Monday.