Italian Town Revokes Honorary Citizenship of Fascist Dictator Mussolini 80 Years After World War II
The small town of Salo, located on the shores of the Italian Lake Garda, which in the past was the seat of the last fascist government of Italy, has voted to revoke Benito Mussolini's honorary citizenship. This was reported by Reuters.
Mussolini led Italy from 1922 to 1943, and from 1943 to 1945 he led the Nazi-backed administration in the north of the country, which was headquartered in Salò.
Like many other Italian municipalities, the city granted him honorary citizenship in the early years of his rule.
The local council of Salò, under the leadership of the left-wing administration, decided to revoke this symbolic title by 12 votes to three. This was a successful attempt after two previous failed initiatives in previous years.
‘No one wants to cancel a historical fact... but we want to add a new page with a strong symbolic meaning’ and show that Mussolini has no place in modern Italy, said Mayor Francesco Cagnini.
In her turn, right-wing opposition representative Erminia Bonfanti called the initiative a ‘futile and meaningless fight against a ghost’ as the dictator died 80 years ago.
There is no exact data on the number of Italian cities that still consider Mussolini an honorary citizen, but it is estimated that there are at least several hundred.
Among these cities is even the traditionally left-wing Bologna. However, in Florence, Mussolini's honorary citizenship was revoked in 2009, in Turin in 2014, and in Pisa in 2017.
The legacy of fascism remains a controversial topic in Italy, where fringe far-right groups, often associated with football fans, continue to glorify the long-deposed regime.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed sympathy for Mussolini in her youth, but now seeks to make her party, the Brothers of Italy, more mainstream and positions herself as a national conservative.
Italian politician Rachelle Mussolini, the dictator's granddaughter, recently decided to leave Maloney's party because of her too radical views.
According to Italian media, she disagrees with the position of the Brothers of Italy on human rights, in particular the restriction of the rights of LGBT couples, as well as with the tradition of using the Roman salute, which is supported by the party's youth wing.
As The Gaze reported, in 2023, a group of neo-fascists were detained at Athens International Airport on their way to a rally. They belonged to the far-right organisation CasaPound, which was founded in the late 1990s as a fan club of the former Italian dictator and founder of the Fascist party, Benito Mussolini.