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Rosa Melodia is the mayor of Altamura, an Italian town of just over 70,000 people close to Bari in the Puglia region. When she was elected in 2018, she could not have known the turbulent times that she would need to lead Altamura through. As Italy was the first European country to be hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, Altamura, along with countless other communities across the country, suffered the blows of the disease – writes James Wilson
“At the beginning, this wave of illness scared us all so much,” Rosa Melodia explained. “It was new, we were facing the unknown and it was a hard time. We had people sick here in our town in the very beginning of the pandemic and we also got hit hard by the second wave.”
Melodia radiates calm, warmth and determination. At points during the pandemic, when all her staff were locked down, she remained at her post. It’s easy to picture her there, alone in the city hall, a reassuring and unflappable presence at the helm. She smiles easily and her sense of humour has remained intact, despite the trauma that she and the town lived through.
The mayor is visibly proud of her town and confirms that in normal times Altamura is a thriving place. Her mind is on the recovery and getting the town back to its true vibrant self. Supermarket vouchers are being issued to help struggling families. There have been several initiatives to take the pressure off local businesses, removing or deferring financial burdens wherever possible. Melodia has deftly converted funds not spent on other projects during the pandemic, in order to aid the town’s residents and businesses. After July 2021, there will be more assistance for businesses.
Her battles have not been limited to the pandemic. She was elected on a strong anti-corruption platform and she has delivered on her campaign promises. Her anti-corruption drive has included much greater transparency and formality around contracts, for example with a digitalised administration so that local people can really know what is happening. She has worked closely with the police against what she describes as “the underworld”. The municipality has taken part in the process, essentially as an “injured party”. For Melodia, it comes down to a fundamental question of equality: “All my fellow citizens have the same status. I treat everyone the same. There are no special favours or access. Everything in our community is to be transparent and done properly.”
What are her priorities for the second half of her term? “Above all else, the health and safety of the town. But I also have a big drive to prioritise some public projects, in particular the two innovative schools that we will open here,” she explains. Altamura’s two new schools are planned to go far beyond the traditional template. Melodia wants them to be true community resources, open after hours for the adult population to use too. The schools’ swimming pools and libraries, for example, will be open not only to the neighborhood and district, but also the whole city.
These two institutions are being built in a new area of the town, further from the centre, meaning a boost for that area and the creation of state-of-the-art resources outside of the town centre.
Melodia is the survivor of a ten year battle against cancer and those around her believe that this extra resilience that she has built up prepared her well to lead the town through the Covid-19 ordeal. Certainly as we speak about the challenges, both from 2020 and from today onwards as Altamura emerges from the pandemic, her strength is palpable and she has the air of someone who is undaunted by tough times.
As our conversation comes to a close, she warmly extends an invitation to some any time to see Altamura, in real life, rather than pandemic-style via Zoom. It’s clears she means it, not only as the mayor, but as a proud resident too. It’s also evident that she has the energy and drive to motor the town on to better days ahead.
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