Italian Voters Make a Sharp Turn to Left : Elections: Mayoral candidates backed by the former Communist Party win in Rome and four other cities. Mussolini’s granddaughter loses.

A swelling national vote of protest turned Italy sharply to the left Sunday, delivering Rome and four other major cities to mayoral candidates supported by the former Communist Party.

The voter disgust that decimated centrist ruling parties and rejected right-wing successors is a weather vane for national elections next year. Expected to recast the foundation of Italian politics and government after nearly half a century, those elections may bring former Communists to power for the first time.

Mounting returns early today from 8.3 million voters in 129 cities echoed exit polls that showed broad gains for the former Communists, including a clean sweep in the five most closely watched races.

Leftist alliances defeated neo-fascists in Rome and Naples, where Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, was defeated by an official of the former Communist Party, now called the Party of the Democratic Left.

In Venice and Genoa, leftist candidates beat challengers of the federalist Northern League, and in Trieste, an independent supported by leftist parties defeated a right-wing former mayor.

“Left Triumphs,” shouted a banner headline in today’s edition of the centrist newspaper Corriere della Sera. “Italy of the Red Mayors,” lamented the conservative Il Giornale as horn-blowing cavalcades of jubilant leftists careened through downtown Rome and other major cities early today.

A raging 21-month corruption scandal that has implicated more than 3,000 politicians, business leaders and government officials destroyed the credibility of the centrist Christian Democrats and middle-of-the-road allies that have dominated Italian politics since World War II.

Centrist candidates lost heavily in first-round mayoral voting two weeks ago, leaving right and left to battle in Sunday’s runoff in cities where no candidate won a majority.

“The people have understood that there weren’t two extremes--just one extreme of the right,” said Achille Occhetto, who led the former Communists to a new name and newly proclaimed social democracy.

Francesco Rutelli, a 39-year-old part-time journalist who drives a motorbike and drew most of his votes from the former Communists, is Rome’s first mayor from the environmental Green Party. His chanting, dancing, singing supporters overflowed Rome’s Piazza Campidoglio deep into the night.

“It is a great joy. The capital is in the hands of progressive forces,” Rutelli exulted as returns showed him victorious over Gianfranco Fini, national leader of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement, by about 53% to 47%.

“It’s a numerical defeat but a political victory. The right has in fact triumphed. Its impact will be felt in national elections,” said Fini, whose neo-facsists won just 5.4% in the last national vote in 1992.

In Naples, 46-year-old Antonio Bassolino called his victory over the 30-year-old Mussolini “a dream come true.”

Bassolino had about 56% to 44% for the former actress and member of Parliament, according to complete, unofficial returns.

“The left has won, but they are the party of the old system. If they fail to achieve anything in four years, they’ll have to answer for it,” said Mussolini, who nostalgically invoked the memory of her grandfather in campaign stops.

What was once the largest Communist Party in the West helped rule virtually every major Italian city during the Cold War but never had a share of national power.

Although they were the second-largest party in Italy, the Communists were systematically excluded by the Christian Democrats from more than 50 postwar coalitions.

The former Communists have been only lightly smeared by the scandal of payoffs for government contracts and accusations of collusion with organized crime.

On Sunday, the party was decisive in defeating neo-fascists in the south and members of the upstart, autonomy-minded Northern League in the north.

In Venice, former Communist Massimo Cacciari, a young philosophy professor, defeated businessman and political newcomer Aldo Mariconda of the League by about 55% to 45%.

In Genoa, Adriano Sansa, a judge backed by the left, easily outdistanced the League’s Enrico Serra, a medical doctor, by about 58% to 42%.

In Trieste, coffee tycoon Riccardo Illy, an independent supported by a leftist alliance, defeated former right-wing Mayor Giulio Staffieri by about 55% to 45%.

It was a painful choice for voters in cities such as Rome and Naples, where the Christian Democrats have long enjoyed strong pluralities among electorates distrustful of both ends of the political spectrum.

Predictably, the neo-fascists accused the former Communists of cloaking a deep red hue in social democratic clothing. And the former Communists denounced echoes of Mussolini’s authoritarianism among the players and programs of the neo-fascists, who claim to be a democratic conservative party.

Under an election reform, the cities selected mayors as individuals for the first time.

In the past, voters backed political parties; the mayor emerged as leader of a coalition formed in post-election negotiations. This time, parties had to declare alliances and announce joint candidates before the first round.

Campaigns, focused on the personal appeal of the candidate, were more U.S.-style and television-oriented than ever.