Meloni on Track to Lead Italy's Longest Postwar Government

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is leading what will soon be the longest-lasting government in the country's postwar history, a milestone she addressed in a rare interview with The New York Times, showing herself by turns funny and fierce. The interview, published Friday, offers a portrait of a leader who has moved from the political margins to the center of power, and who now looks set to outlast every predecessor since the republic was founded.

For Sicily, the durability of the Meloni government carries particular weight. The island, which has long depended on central government transfers and European structural funds, has watched successive administrations come and go with little to show for their tenure. A stable government in Rome, whatever its political complexion, offers the possibility of continuity in policy — for infrastructure, for migration management, for the climate adaptation that the island urgently needs.