When the far-right seized power in Ladispoli, a seaside town near Rome, in 2017, ending 20 years of leftist rule, one of its priorities was to name a square in honor of Giorgio Almirante, minister of Benito Mussolini’s dictatorship and founder of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement. (MSI).
Protests from anti-fascist groups failed to thwart the plan, and in 2019 the nameplate was unveiled in a ceremony that included a blessing from the priest of the church in the same square. Almirante was described by Mayor Alessandro Grando, who won a second term in June, as “the father of Italian right-wing socialism and a benchmark for many Italians”.
Today, many voters in Ladispoli and across Italy are looking to Giorgia Meloni, founder of the Brothers of Italy, a descendant of the MSI, as a point of reference as the country prepares for a snap election on September 25.
“Italians want a radical and historic change, and we need it to go through a democratic process,” said Carlo Morelli, a former leftist voter whose allegiance now belongs to the Brothers of Italy. “I think Meloni is the right person to bring about this change.”
Meloni, 45, could be on the verge of realizing her aspiration to become Italy’s first female prime minister. His political party rose from just 4% of the vote in the 2018 general election to be Italy’s most popular, rising further in polls released on Friday after the collapse of Mario Draghi’s government.
Brothers of Italy leads an alliance that includes Matteo Salvini’s far-right League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, which is expected to win by a clear majority.
The astonishing fall of Draghi’s government surprised many, partly because Italy has never had an election campaign during the summer. Italians flock to the beaches and politics is the last thing on their minds. But with the election approaching, it’s hard to think of anything else.
Morelli was among beachgoers enjoying the sunset over the Ladispoli coastline this weekend. “The left made a lot of mistakes and had no connection with the people,” he said. The right-wing parties, for their part, “have concrete and global ideas”. Of Meloni, he said, “She’s very charismatic, sincere and doesn’t create illusions.”
Still on the beach, Maddalena Melappioni said she had no intention of voting. “They promise so much but never deliver,” she said. Still, she admires Meloni. “She has guts and her words are good, but maintaining them is another thing.”
Meloni, born in Garbatella, a popular district of Rome, was president of the youth wing of the National Alliance, a party that emerged from the MSI. She was youth minister in the Berlusconi government from 2008 to 2011 before founding Brothers of Italy.
President of the Party of European Conservatives and Reformists since September 2020, she has worked to reshape the Brothers of Italy as a conservative champion of patriotism.
“It helped push the party forward,” said Francesco Giubilei, author of the book. Giorgia Meloni: The Revolution of the Conservatives. “It also helped that the Brothers of Italy were the only party that stayed out of Draghi’s government.”
Meloni holds uncompromising views on mass immigration, has described abortion as a “defeat” and opposes same-sex marriage and parenthood. In June, she traveled to Marbella to deliver a controversial speech at a rally organized by her far-right Spanish counterpart, Vox. “Yes to the natural family! No to LGBT lobbies! she screamed.
Giulio Faillaci, sitting on Ladispoli beach with a group of friends, winces as he recalls the content of the speech, an excerpt of which has been widely shared online. “It was horrible, and now we are in a terrible situation,” he said. A fervent leftist, he plans to vote for the centre-left Democratic Party, slightly behind the Brothers of Italy in the polls but which has not yet formed an alliance. “It’s disgusting. We are facing so many problems and they got rid of Draghi, who is one of the most credible people in Europe.
A heated political debate with his friends ensues. “Nobody votes for a common goal anymore – they only think about their own interests,” said Francesco Rossi. Barbara Clarioni, a former voter of the populist Five Star Movement, the party that set the wheels in motion for the fall of the Draghi government, said: “There is no real investment in crucial things such as research, education and health.” She does not know if she will vote and if she does, for whom. “In a way, I prefer the ignorant to the educated who lie.”