The former Italian prime minister and media mogul, who died at 86, was a divisive figure, but even his foes acknowledged that he was an influential political and cultural force.
Daughter of Italian and Jewish American parents, Elly Schlein wants to remake the center-left opposition to Giorgia Meloni, if only her party can survive it.
Inflation and anxiety over nuclear weapons may be eating into some popular support for the war, but key governments remain insulated from the pressures for now.
Her nationalist party was the top vote-getter, leaving Ms. Meloni poised to be Italy’s first female prime minister and the first with post-Fascist roots.