An unofficial referendum against the planned expansion of a US air base in Vicenza has left the city split.
Opponents of the plan hailed the 95% No vote on Sunday but supporters derided the low turn-out and called for the resignation of Mayor Achille Variati.
Variati decided to go ahead with the informal poll in the face of a state court's ban on an official referendum on expanding the Dal Molin base.
Despite its lack of legal force, the mayor hailed the poll as ''an extraordinary example of democracy''.
''It shows how wrong it is not to let people have a say in things that affect them,'' he said.
Cinzia Bottene, a city councillor and member of the No Dal Molin Committee against the plan, said ''the referendum was a great response to the authoritarians who want to impose something on the local community''.
But the Yes Dal Molin Committee pointed out that the 28.5% turn-out meant fewer people voted on Sunday than they did for the mayoral election two months ago.
The committee also criticised the funds spent on what it called a ''useless'' consultation.
''Despite strong campaigning from the No committee, backed by the mayor with the investment of significant amounts of money,'' said No Committee member Roberto Cattaneo, ''fewer citizens voted on Sunday than those who backed Variati in the municipal elections''.
''Out of intellectual honesty, he should resign,'' Cattaneo added, calling the mayor's drive against the expansion plan ''isolationist and extremist''.
Opponents of the base were dismayed last week when the referendum was banned by Italy's highest administrative tribunal, but then they decided to hold it anyway.
The Council of State said a referendum would be ''superfluous'' because publicly elected officials had already ruled on the planned purchase of land for the expansion.
The referendum asked residents whether they thought the city government should acquire the land at the Dal Molin base to stop the expansion and maintain the area's ''environmental integrity''.
Variati was elected this spring on a platform opposed to the base being expanded to accommodate 2,100 US soldiers and thus unite the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which is currently divided between Vicenza and Germany.
The Dal Molin airfield is across town from the main Ederle military base that hosts the headquarters of the Southern European Task Force (SETF), which has been in Italy since the early 1950s and includes a rapid reaction force that has seen action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Last month the Council of State overturned a regional court's ruling against the expansion of the base.
Upholding an appeal from the Italian government, the Council of State said the TAR of Veneto, which came out against the expansion on June 20, had no remit for political questions involving Italy and the United States.
It also stressed that there was no legal requirement to sound out the local population, which is believed to be largely against the expansion.
The Council of State said there was no ''hard evidence'' for the kind of environmental damage protesters claimed the expansion of the Dal Molin base would bring.
Mayor Variati said at the time that the ruling would have no effect on the planned referendum.
''I think it is the Americans who will be most embarrassed by this verdict because they are caught between a government that says 'full steam ahead' and a local population which has hosted them in the most friendly fashion for 50 years and just wants to have its say,'' he said.
Opponents to the project argue that the expansion would have a ''devastating effect'' on the city's urban fabric and the surrounding environment, with a high risk of damaging water tables.
Other arguments against the expansion include the possibility that it would make Vicenza a target in the event of a military conflict or terrorist attack.
Concern has also been voiced about the impact an expanded base would have on a city which is on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites, boasting a host of buildings and villas by Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio.
There are other local groups who are in favor of expanding the base because of the added business it would bring to the town.
