in Italy, Predappio perpetuates the cult of Mussolini

One hundred years after taking power, the cult of Benito Mussolini remains intact in the peaceful little town of Predappio where he was born and buried. His tomb in the crypt of the family chapel overlooking the cemetery attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year. Many nostalgic, but also simply curious, take turns at the bedside of the remains of the Duce whose legacy continues to weigh on the post-fascist party Fratelli d’Italia (FDI), leading the polls for the September 25 legislative elections.

In the crypt decorated with a white marble bust of Mussolini, the guest book placed in front of the stone sarcophagus covered with the Italian flag is filled with messages of affection: “I will never forget you”, “We will be reborn” or “Come back!“. Very moved, a young visitor, shaved head and khaki T-shirt, touches the tombstone with one hand before paying homage, with outstretched arm, to the one who is described on one of the ribbons as “father of the country“.

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Others, who came to Predappio (northern Italy) with their families, take a more nuanced look at the past of the child of the country propelled to power after the march on Rome in October 1922, before establishing a dictatorship in 1925 which lasted until 1943. “Mussolini was a great statesman. He advanced labor law and social protection. But he made mistakes by allying himself with Hitler and passing shameful race laws.”, assures Fabiana di Carlo, a 42-year-old civil servant from Rome, accompanied by her daughter. This vision is shared by many Italians: for them, there is a before and an after Mussolini’s pact with the Nazis and Italy’s entry into the Second World War.

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For 66% of young people aged 16 to 25, the fascist regime was “a dictatorship to be condemned in part, but which has also brought benefits”according to an Ipsos poll published in 2021. As for the elections, Fabiana has made her choice: she will vote for Giorgia Melonipresident of Fratelli d’Italia, which she considers “intelligent and competent” and which she wants to become “the first female head of government”.

“Italy for the Italians”

Born in 2012 from the ashes of the Italian Social Movement (MSI) founded by former followers of Mussolini, Fratelli d’Italia has taken up its emblem, the tricolor flame. A symbol that Giorgia Meloni refuses to renounce even if she has distanced herself from the “nostalgic for fascism” for which “there is no place” in his party.

Read alsoItaly: “fascism belongs to history”, according to Giorgia Meloni

His likely coming to power is raising fears in Europe. Should we therefore expect a return to fascism in Italy? “I don’t believe there is a risk of a return to historical fascism, but it is possible that there will be an authoritarian turn of the screw and a restriction of freedoms”comments Gianfranco Miro Gori, local leader of the National Association of Italian partisans.

Mussolini, whose tomb is visited by more than 70,000 visitors a year, always arouses keen interest. A boon for trade in Predappio, where fascist souvenir shops are well established. Wristbands “anti-communists”swastikas or Celtic crosses, bottles of wine with the effigy of the Duce, posters “Italy for the Italians”, theFascist’s Handbook …Mussolini fans are spoiled for choice. A forty-year-old business couple from Milan, Giovanna and Alessandro, come out with a Mussolini calendar under their arm: “We hope for a triumph of Giorgia Meloni in the elections, she will enforce the rules, security.»

The world of fascism

Not far from Mussolini’s birthplace where his father had a blacksmith’s workshop, an exhibition dedicated to the march on Rome plunges the visitor into the dark universe of fascism. Life-size mannequins in uniforms of the time, bladed and firearms, yellowed photos, a skull and crossbones with a helmet: 170 objects borrowed from private collectors illustrate the insurrection of the blackshirts, without forgetting their close links with the Catholic Church and industrialists.

“It is a cultural exhibition which, in an objective and documented way, offers a reflection on what the March on Rome was like. There is no apology for fascism.”, assures one of the two curators, the historian Franco d’Emilio. Its objective is to “to make Predappio known as the capital of the history of fascism in Italy and in the world”abounds the lawyer Francesco Minutillo, former leader of Fratelli d’Italia.

Among the visitors, Ivano, 39, a wine worker from Cuneo (north-west) and admirer of Mussolini who says he is passionate about history. According to him, “Europe has no reason to be afraid of Giorgia Meloni, she is not fascist, but Atlanticist and anti-Putin.»