God & Man in Florence

On the day he became mayor of Florence six years ago, bustling Giorgio La Pira summoned a city official and announced: "Your only preoccupation will be to employ for the city as many jobless as possible." When the official uneasily remarked that city funds were already overdrawn, La Pira blithely replied: "This town is dedicated to God. He never worried about money and neither shall we."

True to his word, devout little Giorgio La Pira has kept Florence on the verge of municipal bankruptcy ever since and, in the process, made himself the idol of the Florentine masses. A year ago, largely on the strength of La Pira's public works, his Christian Democratic ticket won the biggest municipal vote (101,000) in Florence's history. But, unhappily for La Pira, the newly adopted proportional representation left the Christian Democrats with only 25 out of 60 seats on the municipal council. La Pira found himself obliged to strike up an unwritten alliance with the council's Social Democratic members.

Distasteful as it was to both parties, this alliance survived until the day not long ago when La Pira pressed the council to approve his long-cherished scheme for construction of a "satellite city" which would house 12,000 Florentines who now live either in slums or on the streets. The project aroused the esthetic displeasure of famed Art Expert Bernard Berenson: it would lie on the road to his villa. And it aroused the political wrath of the Social Democrats because of La Pira's failure to consult them. Faced with the likelihood of a vote of "no confidence," La Pira resigned as mayor.

Many Florentines, possibly including La Pira himself, were convinced that this dramatic gesture would shock the Social Democrats into submission. But when the city council met again last week, the majority of its members proved ready and eager to find another mayor. Unfazed, La Pira pulled another card out of his sleeve: along with 24 Christian Democrats and two right-wing Liberals, he resigned from the council itself. By so doing, he hoped to make it impossible for the city government to function and thereby force new elections--elections in which he might hope to win a majority of the council seats. "Have patience," he told a worried follower. "I am La Pira. Pray for me. God will provide."

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