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Is Italy Seeing the Rise of a New Fascism?

The Brothers of Italy, which descended from Mussolini’s fascist movement, is projected to win the coming election.

By , a deputy editor at Foreign Policy.
Four people stand on stage holding hands with their arms up.
Four people stand on stage holding hands with their arms up.
League party leader Matteo Salvini, Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi, Brothers of Italy leader Giorgia Meloni, and Italian center-right lawmaker Maurizio Lupi stand onstage during a joint rally of Italy’s coalition of far-right and right-wing parties in Rome on Sept. 22. Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images

After its election on Sept. 25, Italy is likely to have a right-wing government led by a far-right party directly descended from Benito Mussolini’s fascist movement. Giorgia Meloni, who heads the Brothers of Italy party—Fratelli d’Italia in Italian—has embraced fascist symbolism and praised Mussolini’s leadership.

Cameron Abadi is a deputy editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @CameronAbadi

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Tags: Economics, Italy

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Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi, Brothers of Italy leader Giorgia Meloni, and then-League leader Matteo Salvini participate in a rally of right-wing opposition parties in Rome on Oct. 19, 2019.
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