In Italy, a German-speaking mayor refuses the tricolor sash and awakens old demons
Katharina Zeller, the new mayor of Merano, a town in the German-speaking province of South Tyrol, is accused of refusing to wear the Italian sash during her inauguration ceremony. The gesture has rekindled long-standing feuds in a region with a turbulent past.
Nestled in the heart of the magnificent Dolomites, the small autonomous province of Bolzano (better known as South Tyrol) represents a unique case in Italy. Its approximately 500,000 inhabitants are largely German-speaking, a characteristic inherited from their long history as subjects of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Even today, although the situation has largely calmed down, tensions still exist between the Italian-speaking and German-speaking communities there. This is why the gesture of Katharina Zeller, the new mayor of Merano, the second largest city in the province, has not gone unnoticed.
“Zeller began her term less than twenty-four hours ago, but she is already at the center of a national controversy,” the Catholic daily Avvenire reported on May 19. “During her inauguration ceremony at the town hall, she refused the Italian sash offered to her by her predecessor.” The Milanese media outlet points out that the mayor is a member of the pro-autonomy Südtiroler Volkspartei (SVP) party, the group that has dominated local politics for decades.
Lor
Courrier International
