Mussolini’s Grandchildren — the long shadow of fascism in Italy

Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia party won Italy's general election last September, with Meloni becoming the country's first female prime minister from a party tracing its ideological heritage back to Benito Mussolini. David Broder's book 'Mussolini's Grandchildren: Fascism in Contemporary Italy'

March 30, 2023 . 12:06 PM

1 min read

Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia party won Italy's general election last September, with Meloni becoming the country's first female prime minister from a party tracing its ideological heritage back to Benito Mussolini.
Meloni has positioned herself as firmly pro-Nato and pro-Ukraine, Atlanticist on foreign policy but also determinedly within the European framework on economics, on the euro and even on migration.
David Broder's book 'Mussolini's Grandchildren: Fascism in Contemporary Italy' shows that the ideas associated with fascism are shared broadly across the parties of the right in Italy.
Frattelli d'Italia's success does not imply that fascism has suddenly been resurrected in Italy, but the resurrection has been going on for decades, and the F-word has not been 'handed over to history' as Meloni claims.
History is identity, and identity politics is a key part of Fratelli d'Italia's appeal, playing up a conservative view of Catholic Italian culture over issues such as LGBT+ rights, surrogate motherhood and citizenship.