Berlusconi's Return in the Hands of Rome As Italians Go to the Polls

If there was a last-minute swing back to the center-left in Italy's general election, it certainly had not reached the elegantly coiffed lady who emerged from a polling station just by Rome's Milvian bridge. Jenni Puccini had put her "X" firmly on Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom, the media tycoon's new party which includes Gianfranco Fini and his "post-fascists".

"We're not happy about all these immigrants, and with all the crime," she said. "We don't feel safe any longer."

Berlusconi's rival for the office of prime minister, Walter Veltroni, is the former mayor of Rome. But after a string of violent murders in the city last year, many Romans blame the center-left leader for not doing enough on law and order.

Others are suspicious of his communist origins. "I can't forget the history of communism in Europe," said Federico Moneta, who is in the call center industry.

Lazio, of which Rome is a large part, is the biggest and most evenly poised of seven regions that will decide the balance of power in the next parliament. Floating voters could decide the outcome.

Delfino Bauli had not intended on voting until Veltroni decided to stand without the backing of Italy's radical left. "It was when he declared he was going to run alone - that's what budged me," said the parks employee.

Others, including a university researcher who identified herself only as Cristina, had never nurtured doubts.

"Five years of Berlusconi were enough for me," she said. "He looked after No 1. He's all mouth. He thinks we're idiots. He embodies the cult of money and the sort ... who makes his money by trickery."

At the gates of the school that served as a polling station, someone had left a handful of anonymous fliers. They reminded voters that Berlusconi had described his late stable manager, an alleged mafioso and a convicted murderer, as a "hero" for not giving false testimony against him.

Berlusconi's top aide and senator who got that stable manager his job, Marcello Dell'Utri, was back in the news at the weekend. Dell'Utri, who is appealing against conviction for involvement with the Cosa Nostra, was reported to be under investigation in connection with an alleged attempt to falsify 50,000 votes with help from the Calabrian mafia. He vigorously denied any wrongdoing and said he had not been informed he was a suspect.

Mobsters have long influenced Italian elections by paying for evidence that votes have been cast in line with their instructions. Rome is relatively mafia-free, but the authorities were taking no chances. Inside polling stations hung a notice telling voters it was an offense to take mobile phones with cameras into the booths.

Voting continues until this afternoon.