Romans have elected their first ever woman mayor. Virginia Raggi is a native of the Italian capital and, unlike some other gender firsts (Hillary Clinton and Maggie Thatcher come to mind), a far cry from a neoliberal careerist.
Raggi’s political success is born not only of a talent for debating and solid corruption-fighting credentials, but as a flag-bearer for Italy’s insurgent protest party, the M5S movement. Her victory, and that of a fellow M5Ser (also a woman) in the northern city of Turin, is a shot across the bow of Italy’s complacent political class.
