Winds of war, rearmament and machism
The national gathering of the Alpine troops in Rimini with around 70thousands of soldiers and veterans once again represented a rally of machism and harassment against women around the city, above all against workers of bars and restaurants along the event. The local feminist group of NUDM has publicly denounced such rude attitudes, collecting several reports on many more episodes of catcalling, groping, intimidation and verbal abuses that happened during those days.
In a context strongly marked by militarism and rearmament, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the reactions to such a militarist parade in Italy have been controversial and often deplorable. After the initial indifference, to silence the episodes, right-wing politicians took the defence of the molesters, while also the provincial leaders of the women of the PD tried to minimize the aggressions. In order to reply to the accusations, the pressure was put on the victims regarding the lack of official reports to the police, while the Minister of Defence was soon forced to demand a probe into the alleged harassment. In the following days, a petition signed by over thirteen thousand people called for a ban on Alpine gatherings.
The ‘Black Track’ from mafia to neofascist organizations
Thirty years after the ‘Capaci massacre’ in which the mafia killed the judge Giovanni Falcone, together with his wife and three policemen, the broadcast of investigative journalism REPORT revealed the involvement in the bombing attack of a well-known neo-fascist terrorist, Stefano Delle Chiaie, leader of ‘National Vanguard’. The former attorney general in charge of the case admitted to having investigated Delle Chiaie’s relations with the boss Totò Riina and the connections with the conspirator of Freemasonry Licio Gelli, implicated according to the investigators in a strategy of destabilization of the state. After the disclosure of this so-called ‘Black Track,’ the police ordered even a home search against the author of the news, with PC seizure indeed perceived as a sort of intimidation against press freedom, which was justified by the public prosecutor as a way to acquire new judicial elements on high-level alliances of Cosa Nostra in that period. Such a judicial approach covered by the delivery of silence, in order to avoid “public disorientation”, has rather arisen public concerns on press-freedom repression.
Revisionism and militarism as the main sources of a nationalist comeback
This ‘black’ connection between past and present neofascist organizations is evident even in new Casapound Italy (CPI) initiatives, with the launch on the 28th of a protest march in Rome against the government. Sudden opposition to the demonstration came by leftist parties and associations, calling public institutions to forbid the rally, happening not by chance on the anniversary of ‘Della Loggia square massacre’ with a bombing attack against an anti-fascist demonstration in Brescia on that same day of 1974, causing eight victims and more than one hundred injured. Such a symbolic choice has led even a group of social democratic MEPs to launch the proposal of a European Antifascist Observatory within the Parliament, as a follow-up of INGE special committee on ‘foreign interference in democratic processes in EU’. After rising protests and concerns CPI demonstration was banned and turned into a sit-in in front of neofascist headquarter in Rome where tens of supporters gathered and their leader, Gianluca Iannone, gave a speech from a balcony, posing like the Italian dictator.
Even in the previous weeks, on the 8th of May, the rally in Dongo for Mussolini’s execution anniversary in 1945 was the occasion to perform Roman greetings, carrying insignia and symbols of the fascist regime. A curious feature of these two public initiatives is that the latter wasn’t banned as happened for the one in Rome, thus representing a schizophrenic approach of the institutions towards the political viability of these groups. Regarding the international situation and the conflict in Ukraine, in a previous press release, CPI neither sides with Putin, nor with Nato, stating rather the need for Italy as a power within European nations, then alluding to foreign fighters and to the “honour to the young Europeans who now shed blood to the utmost sacrifice”. The other main neofascist organization in Italy, ‘New Force’ (FN) is currently being dismantled, with its official website subjected to seizure by the Rome prosecutor’s office. Indeed, the phase of retrenchment of political influence and international connections, suffered by the two main far-right Italian groups is defining some main trends. The first one is connected with a new approach, mainly focused on historical revisionism, as a pretext for their legitimation. Another trend is related to the proliferation of local smaller groups. One of the most recent examples is the appearance in Reggio Calabria of a giant street poster with a sign and symbol of the self-styled ‘New Popular Front’, a far-right group introduced by the motto “stronger than steel” and the connection to Azov Battalion logo of the nazist ‘sonnenrad’. Much more worrying is another ongoing trend within the institutional far-right, which seems to attract former neofascist militants with the promise of a political career. The main concern is represented by Meloni’s ‘Brothers of Italy’ party leading the right-wing coalition in the electoral polls, thus becoming the most appreciated party with around 22% towards the national elections of 2023.
Right-wing media: from Euroscepticism to pro-Putin propaganda
The perspective of Giorgia Meloni as the next Italian Prime Minister represents a “new threat rising”, as reported even by The Washington Post in the aftermath of French elections, where her eurosceptic fellow, Marine Le Pen lost the political competition. Another main concern in mainstream media from an international perspective seems to be related to the undue room granted to Russian journalists on talk shows, in the name of balanced information. The climax of this situation was represented by the interview with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, invited to a program on one of Silvio Berlusconi-founded private channels. The suspect of news outlets used to spread fake news and circulation of pro-Putin lines brought at the mid of May the parliamentary committee for security, Copasir, to open a probe into disinformation. After this episode, even the European Commission published a statement to remind EU broadcasters that they “must not allow incitement to violence, hatred and Russian propaganda in their talk shows.”
Far-right social media activities and narratives
Even on social media activities the Italian far-right seems focused either on local initiatives regarding the next administrative elections or rather on the promotion of so-called ‘communitarian’ initiatives, mainly concerts or evenings. CPI posted many events not only in northern Italy or in Rome, but even in Sicily, where they promote the opening of a new club, called ‘Barbadoro’ in Palermo. Mimetism and elusive tactics, regarding symbols and slogans, are the predominant features of themes in the social networks, trying to hide the neofascist matrix behind generic groups, where a nationalist approach is spread, taking advantage of public indignation related to episodes involving ‘foreigners’, or even discontent for the higher cost of living.
Mission ‘Trip Flop’
A bitter controversy is rising about the League leader, Matteo Salvini’s initiative to organize a so-called “diplomatic mission” to Moscow on the 29th of May, in order to set up a mediation for the conflict in Ukraine, according to the promoters’ declarations. After the “Metropol Hotel” scandal, revealing shady affairs and deep connections among Russian oligarchs and Salvini’s trusted people in recent years; the announcement of a political meeting at the Kremlin without previous consultations with Draghi’s government – where the League is part of the parliamentary majority – made many organizations and parties accuse the League leader of pro-Putin propaganda. Following investigations have discovered that the travel tickets would have been at the expense of the Italian Embassy of Russia, thus confirming the ongoing cooperation with Putin’s establishment, despite the European sanctions. Salvini has rejected insinuations of economic agreements with Moscow, though the Russian Embassy has then confirmed its participation to the travel organization, which in the end didn’t take place for reasons of political expediency.

WHICH RESISTANCE?
The Liberation Day celebrations of Mussolini’s regime rid with the partisans’ and allies’ reconquest of Milan, the last biggest city in northern Italy takes place on the 25th of 1945. All over the country, the former partisans’ association (ANPI) organizes initiatives and demonstrations with street parades and popular festivals even days before that anniversary. Due to the context of an ongoing new military confrontation in Europe, the main topic of this edition was the referent to the art.11 of the Republican Constitution about the “renounce of the war as a mean of solving international disputes”. This pacifist approach with a firm request to cease-fire and negotiations referring to the conflict in Ukraine, criticizing both Putin’s aggression and NATO destabilizing strategy in Europe, involved ANPI in harsh polemics. Such controversy arose also with representatives of government and its main parties, about the inappropriate comparison between antifascist Resistance and the Ukrainian self-defence, arguing critically about the Italian weapons deployment, thus sparking the attrition of a proxy war.
 
RIGHTS RETRENCHMENT, INSTITUTIONAL FAR-RIGHT ADVANCE
The changing international situation with its aftermath on energy costs and higher inflation has pushed many parties to ask for further economic measures within government budget law. The political debate focused on new cuts in public expenditures for education and the health system, combined with the parallel increase in military spending up to 2% of GDP. Such imbalances raised also the issue of working poor and inadequate wages since Italy has barely adjusted salaries in the last years, compared to other EU countries. On the 24th of April, a special edition of the traditional ‘Peace March’ from Perugia to Assisi took place, with thousands of participants and also many internationalist and leftist movements asking to ‘put down weapons and up the wages’. In this context, far-right organizations had limited room for their propaganda, with the gradual fading of pandemic restrictions and together with them also popular discontent, attracted by neofascists within ‘no mask, no vax’ movement. Even the traditional funeral procession for Mussolini’s death after his execution on the 28th of April attracted fewer neofascist militants than before. Besides that, the imprisonment of many New Force (FN) leaders and the progressive dismissal of Casapound (CPI) local seats make the two main far-right groups suffer a period of reorganization, downward to local and fragmented associations, or even upward to main institutional right-wing parties. A special mention deserves the programmatic conference of the Brothers of Italy (FdI) party in Milan, which seems to be the most popular party in Italy according to the polls, thus explaining Meloni’s ambition to take the lead of the coalition for the next political elections in 2023, at the expense of Salvini’s Lega and Berlusconi’s Forza Italia. A Non-random choice of topics and guests was targeted to reclaim the nationalist party from its nostalgic connection with post-fascist heritage.
POLITICAL HORIZON SHIFT in BLACK INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES
A top-down overview of transnational interactions of the far-right results from the participation of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to FdI convention in Miland “heralding a wave of change in European politics” with his wish to Italian partners to do the “best for the next parliamentary elections “. A controversial issue for Meloni’s party, regarding the usual moderate approach of Italian voters, in opposition to its extreme positioning within European political families, in coalition with the Conservative and Reform Party. Nevertheless, this aspect has been appreciated by Mr Petr Fiala, president of the government of the Czech Republic, greeting the participants with his satisfaction on sharing “several points of view, in particular on the functioning of the European Union and on the international situation”. Indeed the political stand towards the war in Ukraine, regarding parties’ alignment to EU and NATO countermeasures has somehow represented a setback to the pro-Putin affiliation of all main three right-wing parties in Italy. Such incoherence has been less perceived by FdI, since its role in opposition to Mario Draghi’s government, whose supporters are also Lega and Forza Italia. Right from the war front, recent news broadcast further involvement of Italian foreign fighters, alongside the troops of the Ukrainian army. Luca Valvassori’s case caused a sensation in national media, after his presumed death in Mariupol, where he actually got injured in a Russian troops’ attack during his retreat. He’s not the only one enrolled presumably through the official website set up by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and connected to their embassies. The number of Italian foreign fighters is not clear, but around seventeen Italians should be currently involved in the conflict, among those also the former aircraft pilot Giulia Schiff and others, split on both Russian and Ukrainian fronts. The Italian Foreign Minister Di Maio opposed such a choice, referring to charges of “hostile acts against a foreign state that expose Italy to war”, and for “recruiting or arming people to serve another nation”. The Milan prosecutor’s office investigates the story of the young soccer goalkeeper of Italo-Russian origins, volunteering as a fighter, in order to understand if such conduct may be considered criminally relevant under Italian legislation. Some illegal profiles can be appointed to the aggression of Ukrainian neonazi in Bologna, during a festival for peace on the 23rd of April. On the occasion of the ‘Oltre il Ponte’ festival organized against the war escalation by local antifascist groups at the Granma club, where there was a stand of the Ukrainian Anti-Fascist Coordination, a young passer-by railed violently against the organizers, calling other contacts from his mobile phones. About twenty people rushed in time to join the provocation, with verbal aggressions and threats, claiming their nationalist ideology and their belonging to ‘Pravy Sektor’, standing by the side of the Azov battalion, even making the nazist salute. Clashes were avoided by the organization, but in the following days the door of Barnaut club, also participating in the initiative, was damaged like a promoter’s car found with two torn wheels. Such episode is unfortunately not the only one and the ongoing war with further involvement by NATO countries, sending weapons and boosting mainstream propaganda about a ‘confrontation between good and evil forces’, increase intolerance and intimidation towards groups committed to disarmament also in Italy.
MEDIA PATRIOTISM
International affairs connected with the war in Ukraine underline a trend of progressive legitimation of the nationalist approach. Despite the widespread alarm about the social danger of far-right groups in Italy, mostly after New Force (FN) attack on CGIL trade union headquarter in Rome; even in the mainstream media and in institutional events there’s no stigma on the relationship between Azov Battalion and the far-right party Pravy Sektor, also related to Italian neofascist group Casapound. Ukrainian spokespeople related to such organizations are often interviewed in tv programmes, introducing them as ‘patriots’, thus concealing their nazist background and normalizing the visibility of such groups and their claims. Curiously Italian neofascist groups haven’t boosted support campaigns yet, since their division on the political backing to both contenders and above all due to the redundancy of newsagencies in such an extremist public discourse. Even institutional right-wing parties adopt a more neutral position, compared to baltic or east-European similar organizations, also due to the previous political connection with Putin.
THE EURO-ASIAN NATIONALIST POLITICAL AGREEMENT
Such relationships have been deeper investigated by the editorial board of the ‘Report’ tv programme, revealing a sort of ‘agreement’ between Matteo Salvini’s trusted person, Luca Savoini, appointed with his Italian-Russian friendship association for developing contacts and affairs with Moscow. The ‘Russiagate’ scandal at the Metropol Hotel in October 2018 has publicly disclosed a secret affair in the oil business, offered by Kremlin oligarchs at very low prices, thus guaranteeing extra profits for Savoini’s company. The same person – connected to far-right Orion magazine and very close to Putin’s counsellor, Aleksandr Dugin – participated together with Salvini, at that time as Italian Foreign Minister, at the assembly of Italian Industrial Union in Russia some months later. These events have been investigated by Italian judges about suspects of international corruption. The political “collaboration agreement” between Italian Lega and Putin’s party ‘Russia United’ dates 2017 and has driven in the last years Salvini’s opposition to economic sanctions against Russia, trying so to influence the public opinion, concerning also some parts of the international security and euro-Asian cooperation.

With the start of the trial on the 7th of March against the leaders of the New Force (FN) for the assault on the national headquarter of the CGIL in Rome, other offices of the trade union were targeted with writings and vandalism throughout Italy – from Jesi to Milan, passing for Foggia, Prato Forlì and Venice – at the hands of the same area made up of extreme right and no-vax. Meanwhile, the Minister of the Interior on the 24th March reported in the Senate on other attacks by neo-fascist groups in the Verona area, for which searches were carried out against 23 CasaPound (CPI) militants.
On the foreign front, new elements are discovered in the activism of the far-right with respect to the war in Ukraine, with a network of recruiters to send foreign fighters to the conflict zones, also through the “World Terror” telegram channel, used by the Russian services to influence public opinion. The journalist Paolo Berizzi, the only European reporter, who has been living under protection from neo-fascist and neo-Nazi threats since February 2019, confirms that for years the conflict in Donbas has been “a political ‘gym’ and a training camp”, in a sort of derby between FN sided with pro-Russian separatists and CPI alongside the neo-Nazi Azov battalion. The same call for the recruitment of foreign volunteers launched by the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Kuleba, has gathered new members, but it is not yet clear the number of Italians who left to fight in the last month of the war among the 20,000, who responded to the call from all over Europe.
One of the most important is certainly Andrea Palmeri, alias “the Generalissimo”, sentenced in the first instance as a recruiter of Italian comrades destined for the Donbas front with the pro-Putin militias. Palmeri is noted in anti-terrorism documents for his links with the ‘Rusich’ battalion. Between Donetsk and Luhansk, there is still a militant photojournalist, Vittorio Nicola Rangeloni, who left in 2014 to join the pro-Russian militias and narrate the epic of fighters loyal to Russia on his profile VKontact, the Russian Facebook that has become a destination for neo-fascists banned from the American social network. Fiore himself is fond of the cause, since with the Alexandrite association he brought a group of Italian entrepreneurs to the Crimea after the annexation to Russia, in order to invest and relocate to the lands of the Kremlin.
Berizzi’s complaint concerns the danger of proliferation of weapons and militias linked to the European far-right, which has been arming itself for some time and aims to make the leap in quality, passing from propaganda to concrete facts, from words and slogans to actions on the field.
Another link between Italy and the conflict in Ukraine is represented by the Odesa gangster, Avakov, considered to lead the Kyiv-1 battalion and promoter of the integration of the Azov battalion into the national guard. In the past years, his villa in Rome had been plastered with posters and photographs of killed or injured political opponents, after the condemnation reports from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for war crimes, torture and illegal detentions perpetrated by the units under his command in Donbas.
On the ground, the first Italian victim in the conflict was registered on the 31st of March. Edy Ongaro, a Venetian from Portogruaro of 46 years old, was hit by a hand grenade in the town of Adveevka, north area of Donetsk. He had been in Ukraine since 2015, fighting with the internationalist ‘Prizrak’ brigade alongside pro-Russian separatists. “Bozambo”, as his nickname chosen in memory of a partisan of the Second World War, argued that the memory of the violence inflicted by the fascists on his family pushed him to fight with the pro-Russian rebels of the separatist republics.
Back in Italy, as in many other EU countries, the government pushes for the dispatch of weapons to Kyiv and the simultaneous increase in military spending up to 2% of GDP with 13bln.€ of further expenditures. Many right-wing pro-Putin parties, such as those led by Silvio Berlusconi, Matteo Salvini or Giorgia Meloni, who all had interesting relationships with the Russian President, tend now to hide their previous friendship and aligned themselves on pro-NATO and militarist positions. In the meanwhile, journalistic inquiries have revealed a special relationship between Putin’s consultant, the ideologue Aleksandr Dugin, and a Salvini trustee, a certain Gianluca Savoini, implicated in the ‘Metropol’ scandal for bribes. Alleged funding was discovered from the network of contacts, not only to the League but also to the homophobic and anti-abortion association Pro Vita, coming directly from funds of the Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, banned for several years by EU sanctions.
Though this puzzling political majority stands for an “armed peace”, the Italian public opinion is nevertheless very sceptic and according to dermoscopic surveys, almost 54% of the interviewed population is against Italian rearmament. During this month in many cities, there have been hundreds of local demonstrations for peace, starting immediately after Russian invasion in Ukraine, with the biggest march held in Rome on the 6th of March by the Italian Network for Peace and Disarmament. Many artists and prominent figures also called for a second appointment on the 20th of march, organized by the spokesperson of the migrants USB trade union, Abubakar Sumahoro, always in Rome. On the same concept of “peace”, however, there is a tangible difference between the popular square and the institutional palace, with the latter always more interventionist and less representative of Italian public opinion.
In the last weeks, there have been workers’ demonstrations against the deployment of weapons, mostly at Pisa airport in Tuscany and at Genoa port, where workers blocked the access, refusing to upload weapons and take part in this arms traffic, supported by demonstrations by grassroots unions in their critics against wars both in Ukraine and in Yemen.

“Remembrance Day” and neofascist engagement in the Ukrainian conflict.
Since a controversial law of 2004, each 10th of February in Italy is dedicated to the ‘Remembrance Day’ of “sinkholes” victims and exiles from the Julian-Dalmatian regions after the Second World War. In particular, the episodes concern Yugoslavia’s liberation struggle and the vicissitudes of Italian fascists and occupying population, pushed beyond previous national borders. Moreover is noticeable that right on the 10th of February 1947 the Paris Agreement for peace between Italy and Yugoslavia was signed. Through such a recurrence that fact has turned to be combined with a tragic date instead. Therefore this recurrence has always represented an opportunity for far-right parties to speculate with anti-communist propaganda and rising nationalist feelings. The exploitation of such facts is evident since rarely the narration stems from the previous fascist invasion of the Balkans and exiles are portrayed only as victims of anti-Italian hate. All over Italy, small and big neofascist groups rally in main cities to commemorate Italian (mainly fascist) victims of “Yugoslavian partisans’ fury” and some core places of these demonstrations are always Trieste – which is located on the north-east side straight on the border – and Verona, where far-right organizations are deeply connected with local institutions. Here even the neonazi ‘Veneto skinhead front’ was allowed by local authorities to demonstrate together with Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party (FdI), although just a few days before thirteen members of the neonazist group were sentenced by a local court for a squadron blitz at the headquarters of the pro-migrant solidarity association in Como. On the other hand in Verona, an antifascist author, Eric Gobetti, was banned to hold his speech about the complex facts on the eastern border after WWII in a public school. This makes clear how close is the relationship between criminal far-right organizations, so-called right-wing ‘institutional parties’ and unfortunately even authorities of the Republic, always more lured by this nationalist rhetoric.
With Putin’s aggression on Ukraine on the 24th of February and the request of foreign fighters by the government of Kyiv, in order to form “International Brigades”, the attention has turned again to the Italian far-right militants already engaged in the last years in the Donbas conflict. Some prominent figures of the neofascist area, in particular, would be very engaged, curiously on both sides of the war-line also from the 2014 Maidan putsch. A researcher of the Institute of Studies on International Politics (ISPI) states that since the beginning of hostilities in eastern Ukraine, CPI developed sympathies and contacts with the Azov Regiment, for example, while FN has mostly been linked to pro-Russian formations, though several reported exceptions Some Italians, like F.F. called “Stan”, would have ideologically joined the neonazi ‘Azov Battalion, marked by a former SS symbol of the ‘Wolfsangel’ and considered by him a political-military regiment on the Ukraine side, previously an autonomous paramilitary force, then turned to a full-fledged part of the Ukrainian army. Another example on the other side of the barricade is represented by a former Casapound (CPI) leader in Lucca (Tuscany), Andrea Palmieri, officially wanted by the Italian police for previous crimes of aggression. He has been fighting for years with the pro-Russian separatist republic of Lugansk. He has recently sent an interview to a local newspaper, dismissing partly his warrior’s pride and justifying Putin’s aggression because of NATO. The other three Italian citizens, A. Cataldo, V.Verbitchii and O.Krutani, were arrested in 2018 coming back from the Donbas region. All of them with a military background and mostly enrolled as mercenaries or troops trainers. The other two figures, G. Carugati and M. Cavalleri have instead a more political background with assessed connections to local Lega or New Force (FN) parties. In general, the participation in the conflict has involved around sixty neofascist militants so far; but according to the Institute of Studies on International Politics (ISPI) with the new notice of the Ukrainian embassy in Rome for the enrollment in the anti-Putin ‘International Brigades,’ an increase of the phenomenon has to be expected.
This approach is somehow reflected in a repulsive abstention of Italy voting in November 2020 at the UN Assembly for an official statement of the Third Committee in charge of social, humanitarian and cultural issues approved «Combating the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fueling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance” with 29 NATO countries – 21 also members of EU, among which Rome representatives – abstained because of their support to Ukraine neo-nazi movements for strategic purposes.

Even this new year begins with the same old black shadows from the past. On the 7th of January takes place in Rome in the Tuscolano suburb, precisely in Acca Larentia street, a commemoration of two far-right militants of the Youth Front, killed on that day of 1978 during the action of a radical left group. Indeed the demonstration is mainly an official excuse, in order to organize a sort of paramilitary parade with fascist salutes and dictatorship apology. The poster of the event also shows an imperial eagle on the top conveying the typical rhetoric of the regime.
Hundreds of far-right members, mainly of Casapound Italy rally on the street, holding out their arms at the “present” ceremony and showing nostalgic banners with celtic crosses and other extremist symbols. For this year the neofascist organization CPI even scheduled a ‘National Council’ before the demonstration, with the aim of monopolizing the recurrence within the ‘black galaxy’ as an appointment of their own organization.
Acca Larentia has represented for years, amid a thousand controversies and protests also by the residents of the area, a “liturgical” moment in the calendar of the Italian far-right: like the memory of Sergio Ramelli in Milan. Besides that, it has in the last two years become a pretext and occasion for violence and threats against journalists. In 2019 – as the National Observatory on the new rights recalls – former militants of the National Avant-garde and Forza Nuova attacked a journalist and a photographer from Espresso.
In this regard, it should be remembered that even CasaPound, which considers itself “heir of fascism”, is under investigation in Bari for attempted reconstitution of the fascist party and for violence. And that in Rome the so-called ‘black turtles’ have continued to occupy illegally a building owned by the State Property for 18 years.
No authority intervened to prevent the manifestation of clear fascist propaganda, while the former partisans’ association (ANPI) asks to prevent similar offensive demonstrations and to follow the French example which, with a decree of the council of ministers, banned the “Les Zouaves Paris” group for incitement to hatred and political violence.
The latter is only the latest political act of a government against neo-fascist drifts, after the dissolution of Generation Identitaire in March 2021. Despite the numerous attacks and demonstrations that are apologetic of fascism, FN and CPI have not yet been banned in Italy; while in addition to the French cases, there is the process of banning Golden Dawn in Greece in October 2020, or Combat 18 banned in Germany in January 2020, following the killing by far-right terrorists of the CDU politician Walter Lübcke.
More recent facts concern the clashes between CPI and the police during an eviction of one of the neofascist groups ‘futurist club’ which illegally occupied in Casalbertone suburb of Rome. On the 20th of January early in the morning tens of CPI members, alerted previously about the police operation, let themselves be found lined up with sidearms and helmets, ready to confront the agents in riot gear. CPI launched smoke bombs and charged, an effort in which two officers were injured and were taken to hospital. Luca Marsella, a former councillor in Ostia for the so-called “Fascists of the Third Millennium”, has been stopped as leader of the violent action.

Key Developments

 
The situation in Italy is mainly focused on the health crisis and on the fourth wave of coronavirus with the Omicron variant. The main occurrences therefore concern the aftermath of neofascist New Force, Italy (FN) attack to the headquarter of CGIL trade union in Rome during a ‘No Vax’ demonstration. Main FN leaders Roberto Fiore – already been convicted in the past for an armed gang and subversive association – and Stefano Castellino are still under arrest for having organized the assault. The prosecutor asks for them an immediate judgment and the trial could take place as early as February. Moreover investigation-file closure extends the time of the pre-trial detention. For the sole crime of devastation and looting, among others such as incitement to violence and private violence against policemen, the suspects risk between 8 and 15 years in prison. Together with them are also detained the former ‘Revolutionary Armed Groups’ (NAR) terrorist, Luigi Aronica, and activists Pamela Testa and Salvatore Lubrano, accused of devastation and looting, private violence, together with six other protesters, also subjected to precautionary measures, including the leader of FN Verona, Luca Castellini. The investigation then reconstructed that the FN leaders of most of the groups present on the national territory, from Palermo to Verona via Arezzo, arrived in Rome for the demonstration on Saturday 9th October 2021.
Six prosecutors investigate altogether the organization, connecting weapons and the money trail, that aimed to infiltrate and lead the anti-vaccine galaxy. On Dec. 15th, 2021 the Bari prosecutor declared to have been carrying on further investigations with accusations of training in activities for terrorist purposes, including international ones. According to the reconstruction of La Repubblica newspaper, they would have devised a plan to create a new organism for a subversive political matrix, trying to merge together the far-right organization with the No-Vax movement. Anomalous connections between FN members and some ‘no-lockdown’ restaurateurs’ spokespeople, such as Roberto Falco, brother of Angelo, part of a gang-related to the criminal clans in Bari, attracted investigators’ attention. Indeed following the news it seems that FN leaders were trying to recruit people in ‘No Vax’ chats, with particular attention, to those familiar with the use of weapons. Within this galaxy is also the ‘*orange vests*’ movement founded by former General Pappalardo, become popular for homophobic and intolerant declarations, which sound even more brutal, thinking that until 2006 he was at the head of a Carabinieri brigade. This low but continuous drift of Italian institutions is evident also through the case of Mariano Cingolani, the municipal secretary of Ferrera Erbognone, an offense ended up at mid-December to the Ministry of the Interior and the prefecture of Milan. As reported always by the Repubblica newspaper, the official from the small town in the province of Pavia exhibited for a long time the portrait of the Nazi Léon Degrelle behind his desk in the public office of the town hall, with a nazist motto below the picture.
In the meanwhile, the No Vax Lorenzo Damiano, member of New Force, Italy and candidated for mayor in a small city in Lombardy, organizing public meetings with deniers, opposed to vaccines and Green Pass during his electoral campaign, ended up in sub intensive therapy and decided to convert, declaring: “*I’ll follow science: I’ll get vaccinated. Get all vaccinated*”. Even more paradoxical is instead the case of the two CGIL delegates, one in Rome and another in Verona, who posted photos and fascist anthems on social networks, with fascist greetings, tattoos with Celtic crosses, hashtags praising Mussolini and solidarity with Casapound. Erupted recently, the cases were firstly denounced as internal complaints from February 2020 then in July 2021 by some colleagues to the Guarantee Committee, which last month decided to archive them after the removal of any equivocal picture from their social networks.
Apart from this tragicomic episodes, there’s a shift of power in the neo-fascist area with Casapound Italy (CPI) trying to gain hegemony after FN show down. In late November the motion on the dissolution of FN was voted on by the Parliament, still waiting a resolution by the government. Even FN leading exponents consider the internal crisis as “devastating”, against which the ‘strong action’ at CGIL headquarter should have helped to take back the scene, also recalling the fascists assaults against trade unions hundred years ago. Something maybe successful on the media but disastrous under many other points of view, since the rising troubles also in other parts of Italy and the competition with CPI and the recent ‘National Movement Patriots Network’ (MNRP) brought many FN members to retire or to join other far-right groups.