Nathan Akehurst / 30 Sep 2022
Mussolini’s Ghost
The Italian Future Past
Four days before Mussolini’s ghost came back, a friend and I raced through the high-walled alleys of Venice in dazzling afternoon sunshine.(...)
Movimento Cinque Stelle
Joel Schalit / 28 Aug 2019
Rebranding Italian Politics
The Post-Salvini Era
The more you call them populist, the more likely they'll turn into one.(...)
The Battleground / 05 Jul 2019
The Appeal of Victory
Italy’s Strongman Complex: The Brando Benifei Interview
Salvini is always the winner. Peruse most major news media on the 2019 EU elections, and when you hit Italy, it’s always the case.(...)
Sean Quinn / 19 Jun 2019
Circular Firing Squads
The Self-Defeating Italian Left
The corpses of security guards lay strewn among broken glass and crumpled cars on Via Fani. A dead body, displayed in fetal position, in the trunk of a red Renault 4 and a dejected, thin-faced man with a wry smile posed before the flag of his captors.(...)
The Battleground / 17 May 2019
Italy’s Democracy Crisis
The Anna Momigliano Interview
Few countries occupy as difficult a place in European news as Italy. Only reported on when there’s an economic crisis or a tabloid-style story about its flamboyant political leaders — read Silvio Berlusconi, or, Matteo Salvini — Italy screams out for more considered coverage.(...)
Joel Schalit / 11 Apr 2019
Repetition Syndrome
Towards a Nationalist European Union
The first time the heads of Italy and Germany’s two biggest fascist parties met was in Venice, in June 1934. Things didn’t go so well for Benito Mussolini, who, a longtime hero of the new German chancellor, sought Adolf Hitler’s assurance that Italy could control Austria.(...)