Bologna, September 12, 2026 – ‘Bologna Respira’ presents itself. The former Greens, or rebellious Greens as they have been called several times, are definitively shaking off Il Sole che ride and giving life to a new list, “a true ecological alternative.” The spokesperson Danny Labriola and the president Andrea Barone thus unveiled the new logo at the first meeting that kicks off the electoral campaign of Bologna Respira, at the CostArena club on via Azzorre Gardini, this morning.
Bologna Respira towards 2027
The declared goal is to open “a direction” towards the Municipal elections next year, reaching the point of expressing a mayoral candidate from the list, who will be positioned against the re-election of the outgoing Matteo Lepore.
“For months, indeed for years, we have been talking about an ecological alternative for Bologna – emphasizes Labriola -. We believe that many mistakes have been made in these years: the policies for the city have been very contradictory, inconsistent, and democracy has suffered various wounds. We think it is time to give representation to those thousands of people who ask for a more livable city, cleaner air, healthier food, more genuine participation, a City Council that returns to the center of democracy”.
The battles of recent years
Many are the battlegrounds of the former Greens, represented in the city council by Davide Celli (“With whom we stay in contact every day,” says Labriola), who left the majority years ago after several clear clashes with the current administration. From the Children’s Museum in Pilastro to the former Gabrielli Nursery, from land consumption to the new Besta Schools, up to the City 30 project, which for Labriola is “yes important, but done in a hasty manner, without a truthful vision of the slow city.”
“I will never stop emphasizing the word ‘credibility’ – continues the spokesperson of Bologna Respira -. Whatever those who have governed this city propose, unfortunately it will be little credible. Those who have governed this city cannot be credible when talking about green, environment, health, because in these years very, very harmful choices have been made for us citizens. Bologna Respira is born for a more ethical and kind city and is involving many people, who have gathered around our manifesto released at the end of June.”
Who will be the mayoral candidate of Bologna Respira?
The cards have not yet been revealed, but it is natural that in the coming weeks the list will continue its path until expressing its own mayoral candidate for the elections that will be in late spring. Clearly, Labriola could be in pole position, but also the president himself Barone. Or perhaps other personalities within the list.
“I approached because I felt the need as an adopted Bolognese to fill together with these people a gap at the dialectical and political level – emphasizes Barone -. No one in this city, neither those who govern it nor those who propose themselves as opposition, has ever made such a step: to connect environmental and social issues. Bologna must breathe because it is suffocated by gentrification and cementification.”
The internal split among the Greens, now close to Lepore
As mentioned, the internal split among the Greens has taken place in recent years and has intensified in recent months. First the departure from Lepore’s coalition by Celli, then the disagreements matured like the Administration on various issues, finally a sort of “commissioning” by the national leadership towards the former provincial federation, which removed the symbol from the rebellious Greens and established a new municipal association.
From Lepore came an invitation to “mend,” also matured in recent meetings at the Festa dell’Unità: the Greens, in short, have extended a hand for the Lepore second term, despite the national spokesperson Angelo Bonelli specifying that “the majority is not a barracks, where everyone gets along.”
It is likely, in short, that in 2027 at the electoral appointment a group of Avs (Green Left Alliance) will present itself as seen in the last regional elections. Moreover, with uncertain votes under the Two Towers.
