In Sicily, an avalanche of No: 61% in the center and suburbs uniform (not in turnout). But in 51 municipalities, the Yes wins.

At the Dusmet comprehensive institute on Viale Castagnola in Librino, there are eleven polling stations in the city of Catania. At 277, the turnout was 24 percent and the "No" won overwhelmingly with 74 percent. In the next door, at 276, the turnout was double, just above 47 percent, and the "No" also won, but with twenty percentage points less.

If one wants to seek an answer to the overwhelming result in Sicily in the constitutional referendum on justice - the "No" won with 60.98 percent, while the "Yes" stood at 39.02 - perhaps one should look to the peripheries. And not because there are substantial differences in the results between the center and popular neighborhoods, or between the city and the province. The "No" prevailed almost plebiscitarily everywhere (only 51 municipalities in Sicily voted for the "Yes", just 13 percent of the total). The only significant gap lies in the turnout data: very high, even above 60 percent, in the central sections of large cities. Definitely lower, often below 20 percent, in the peripheral ones. This is the relationship, for example, between Zen and Viale Libertà in Palermo.

Or in Catania between Borgo, Corso Italia, and Viale XX Settembre on one side (all sections with turnout above 60 percent and "No" percentages over 70) and the neighborhoods San Cristoforo (section 68 of the Livio Tempesta school: turnout at 14%, "No" at 67%), Librino (section 278, Viale Bummacaro: turnout at 17.9%, "No" at 65%), Villaggio Sant'Agata (section 278, Pestalozzi school: turnout at 21%, "No" at 69%). Just to mention a few cases. In areas where voting is historically more controlled, this time the party machinery did not have an impact. As admitted, strictly off the record, by several representatives of the center-right majority who did not engage in the referendum campaign with the same fervor as in other electoral competitions.

The result was a great surprise for many. Not for those who never take their antennas off the territory. "It will be a crushing victory for the No," informally predicted one of the center-right bigwigs in Catania a few days before the vote. Sicily, after Campania, is the region in Italy where the margin for the "No" is the widest: +6 percent compared to the national result. A wider victory than in the "red" regions of Tuscany and Emilia Romagna. No province was an exception: leading is Palermo (65%), followed by Enna, Syracuse, and Ragusa (62%), then Agrigento and Catania (60%), Trapani (59%), and finally Messina and Caltanissetta (56%). In the three largest cities - Palermo, Catania, and Messina - the "No" records three percentage points more than the respective provincial data. And Palermo, in particular, with 68.9 percent for the "No" ranks on the national podium of capitals, preceded only by Naples and followed by Bologna. But the absolute records must be found in the small municipalities: in Cassaro, in the province of Syracuse, 81 percent of voters marked an X on the "No". Above 70 percent also Priolo, Sambuca di Sicilia, Bivona, San Cono, and Casalvecchio Siculo. Only in 51 municipalities out of 391 in total on the island did the "Yes" prevail, just 13 percent. Among others are Maletto, Maniace, and Mazzarrone in Catania, but also Niscemi, Acate, and Pachino. More than half, 27, are in the province of Messina. Curiosity: in Roccella Valdemone, in Messina, there was a perfect tie: in the only polling station in the small town, there were 89 "Yes" votes, exactly as many as "No" votes. A tie also in Gallodoro, also in Messina, 57 votes for both sides.

Turnout continues to decline: the final data shows that in Sicily only 46.16 percent of eligible voters participated, the worst performance in Italy and half a million less than in the 2022 elections. A negative record for Lampedusa and Linosa: the turnout at 26.9% is the lowest nationally. And here too lies a small clue useful for interpreting the results: the province where the most voting took place is Messina, with a 49.25% turnout, the same where the "Yes" fared better.