Meloni’s referendum defeat shows the cost of the Trump factor | Riccardo Alcaro

The Italian PM has won plaudits for her tightrope-walking pragmatism. But have voters now had enough?Giorgia Meloni has a long history of defying expectations. She holds the record as Italy’s youngest cabinet member, at 31, and is its first female prime minister, thus overcoming two of Italian politics’ most formidable obstacles, gerontocracy and machismo. After she took office in autumn 2022, she quickly put to res…