Rome has elected the first female mayor in its 3,000-year history with the 37-year-old lawyer vowing to take on the Pope and the Mafia.
Virginia Raggi of the 5-Star protest movement stormed to victory after capitalising on anger over political corruption and deteriorating services in the Italian capital.
Her cause in the capital was helped by the ousting of her predecessor, the Democratic Party’s Ignazio Marino, over an expenses issue and a much bigger scandal over organised crime’s infiltration of the city administration.
In what is known as the ‘Mafia Capitale’ case, dozens of local businessmen, officials and politicians are currently on trial for their involvement in a criminal network that ripped off the city to the tune of tens – if not hundreds – of millions of euros.
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