He tries every hook and every bait, but the bucket remains empty.
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Chronicles from the pier of Italian politics
Matteo Renzi has long resembled a fisherman in rough seas. His boat is ready, his buckets are clean, his rods are new, and his enthusiasm is intact. He casts his lines with confidence, convinced that this time the catch will come.
But the fish are gone.
Once upon a time, they used to swarm around him: when he was the “scrapper,” the fresh new face, the boy from Florence who spoke fast and promised miracles. Today, though, the shoals have learned to swim away at the mere sight of his boat.
The endless baits
Renzi keeps changing bait with relentless creativity:
- one day it’s the “Party of the Nation,”
- the next, the “Third Pole,”
- then the grand revival of the political center,
- in between, books where he explains that he had foreseen everything, only to be misunderstood.
Every time he swears that this time the fish will bite. Every time the bucket remains empty.
The stormy sea
The scene is almost comical: Renzi nervously shifts his rod from side to side, throws more hooks, blames the water for not cooperating. But fish don’t care about press releases or TV appearances.
And so the sea gives him silence. Votes, allies, consensus — all have scattered like schools of fish in clearer waters.
The fisherman’s tale
Like every angler, Renzi has a story ready: “I swear, the fish was huge, but it slipped away at the last moment!”
It used to work — people believed in the tale. Today, it just sounds like a worn-out excuse.
Waiting for a miracle that never comes
Renzi now lives on waiting: for the right wave, the distracted fish, the miracle catch. But politics is not sport fishing: persistence is not enough. Sometimes you must admit the sea is no longer yours.
Sotto il Cielo 