Voices: How the far-right – and Giorgia Meloni – won Italy over

On 23 July, Rudy Giuliani – Donald Trump’s lawyer and major supporter – called Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the far-right party Brothers of Italy, “Italy’s Margaret Thatcher”.

On 12 September, Steve Bannon, Trump’s former adviser and notorious right-wing hardliner, similarly hailed Meloni as the famous Iron Lady of British politics. “Like Thatcher, she will face opposition,” he claimed, “but like Thatcher she will win.”

A few days earlier, in an interview with the Italian press, Hilary Clinton said that “the election of the first woman prime minister in a country always represents a break with the past, and that is certainly a good thing”.

Elections are now over, and Meloni will be Italy’s prime minister following yesterday’s huge victory. Yet, this has nothing to do with Thatcher or the role of women in politics. In recent years, hardline right-wing politicians have been rising across the globe.

There are many factors contributing to their vote appeal – including the economy, the role of the centre-left, the electoral system, unemployment and immigration. Meloni benefited from both the failure of the centre-left and her opposition to Mario Draghi’s cabinet. But she did not gain many non-right-wing voters. She probably attracts the electorate which was previously voting for her ally, Silvio Berlusconi. But, still, how is it possible that Italians can vote for a party that has been accused of having “neo-fascist” ties (accusations Meloni denies) in the centenary of the march on Rome?

There is something peculiar about Italy. Since the early 2000s, the peninsula has experienced an escalation of far-right politics. This seems to have come hand in hand with a growing normalisation or legitimisation of fascism. We have seen, variously, militants performing fascist salutes, the focus on the “positive sides” of the interwar regime, attempts to name public sites after fascist figures, the celebrations of fascist anniversaries, Benito Mussolini’s heirs in politics and violence on the streets.

The resurgence of such fascist tendencies is supported by an overall rehabilitation of fascism, which is led by right-wing forces with nostalgic or positive views of Mussolini’s regime. Meloni’s party plays a huge role in this story. Brothers of Italy claims to represent the “history” of Italy’s right-wing politics, but what is this built on?

The party is now in line with the (dissolved) Italian Social Movement (MSI), which emerged in 1946.

Their tricolour flame symbol is now “borrowed” by Meloni’s group. Meloni has herself suggested this emblem has “nothing to do with fascism but is a recognition of the journey made by the democratic right in our Republican history”. Yet, many believe this flame signifies fascist ideals radiating for eternity, while some militants read the initials (MSI) as “Mussolini, you are immortal.”

In 2018, Meloni stepped out into the electoral arena with Rachele Mussolini, the granddaughter of the dictator (who is their city councillor in Rome) at a rally in one of the cities founded by Mussolini in 1932.

In 2019, she stood in front of a fascist building in the EUR district in Rome, with their party candidate in the 2019 EU elections, Caio Giulio Cesare Mussolini – in her words, this new Mussolini was a “patriot.”

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Some of the mainstream media in Italy have contributed to this legitimisation of fascist ideology, too. In 2017, the conservative right-wing daily newspaper Il Tempo chose Mussolini as “personality of the year”. Revisionism appears to be altering some perceptions of Italian history.

Berlusconi’s political federation featured the neo-fascists of the MSI, but he was able to convince Italians that this was the “coalition of moderates” opposing the (former) communists. This appears to have made possible the acceptance of neo-fascist forces in politics.

This might also explain why the centenary of the march on Rome is going unnoticed by the wider public. Revisionism is having a cultural and political impact, and the (neo)-fascist nature of some far-right groups is of no interest to3 many Italian voters.

The irony is that Meloni is becoming prime minister on the centenary of Mussolini gaining power. History is probably not repeating itself in a similar fashion, but neo-fascists will be finally out of the “ghetto” after a march which began with the fall of fascism in 1945.

Andrea Mammone is a visiting fellow in the Robert Schuman Centre at the European University Institute, and a historian of Modern Europe at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is an expert on the far right, nationalism and European politics