Perhaps because it was broadcast on the web and not on television, perhaps due to the character of the two contenders, the first (and perhaps only) face to face between the president of the Brothers of Italy Giorgia Meloni and the secretary of the Democratic Party Enrico Letta was very calm , perhaps too much, and the impression is that it is unlikely to significantly influence the decisions of the voters.
The two leaders agreed on Italy's pro-European and Atlanticist position, on sanctions against Russia, on support for Ukraine and on the fight against expensive bills. Basic income.
They attacked each other on alliances, on migration, on constitutional reforms.
At the end a moment of relaxation, with the point that brings them closest: a "unison" no to a government of national unity after 25 September, pronounced by both with a smile on their lips.
In two hours of questions and answers, no strong words, political distances emerge without too many sparks.
The Pd secretary accuses the former Minister of Youth of wanting to "update" the PNRR, thus putting Italy's credibility in Brussels at risk.
"Portugal - is the reply - asked for it and Gentiloni said it is very interesting. And we can't do it? We need to use it more on the issue of energy supply".
Shortly after Gentiloni will reply "Who said that?"
to reporters who will ask him for confirmation that Lisbon will have its modification.
Read the attack also on the privileged relations of the leader of the Brothers of Italy with Orban's Hungary, and with those who want "a Europe based on vetoes".
"We want - he underlines - an Italy that counts in Europe, not one that protests. Like Draghi, who went to Kiev with Macron and Scholz: that's photography. An Italy that counts, not vetoes Poland and Hungary. , also because we have the Euro ".
Meloni first defends the idea that it is right to claim the protection of "the national interest".
Then he is very cautious about the Hungarian premier: "I have good relations with Orban but until yesterday his party was in the EPP, not in my party, that of the conservatives. We will be in dialogue with everyone but there is a problem of re-balancing the free axis. -German, so we will have to talk to Mediterranean countries as well as those of the East. The solution is to bring them closer: no to Europe in Serie A and Serie B ".
On the hot topic of immigration, Meloni reiterates the need for a European mission that talks to Libya to limit departures, "distinguishing those who have the right to leave as refugees from those who don't".
The secretary takes the ball and notes that he has avoided talking about "naval blockade", because, he adds: "it is so obvious that it cannot be applied and the government cannot adopt it".
So Letta returns to attack the governments of the east and their vetoes on common migration policies.
"The countries that have opposed the redistribution are different - I think the French gendarmes in Ventimiglia, but also Germany that has chosen its migrants, the Syrians. Then on Poland, caution: it is loading all the Ukrainian refugees, let's measure the words ".
After ten questions to which the two leaders have answered one at a time at the same time, the editor of Corriere della Sera Luciano Fontana addresses some individual ones, and it is the theme of the environment and that of civil rights that raise the tone a little.
Letta accuses the right of being a denial on environmental issues, Meloni firmly rejects the accusation and questions the choice of electric for mobility: "China produces it by consuming coal".
Then a curtain starts on the electric bus on which the secretary of the Democratic Party travels during the election campaign: "'He left you on foot ...", teases Meloni.
"He did not leave me on foot - Letta points out immediately - we have three means that are used in an alternative way. So it is a fake news of your media system".
Regarding civil rights, Meloni says she is opposed to adopting same-parent couples: "Children who have already suffered must be guaranteed the maximum, which for me is a father, a mother, the stability of the couple".
"It is important for children to be given love, but you want to regulate this love", Letta replies.