Row over Mussolini photo as Italy’s Meloni readies for power

ROME (Reuters) – An Italian ministry said on Tuesday it would remove from its walls a photo of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, after its recent display sparked complaints from trade unions and a former minister.

Mussolini’s legacy is in the spotlight as Italy prepares to install its most right-wing government since World War II, led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party whose roots go back to the post-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI).

The Mussolini portrait will be taken down “to avoid polemics and manipulations,” the industry ministry said in a statement.

The photo was part of a gallery of former industry ministers, recently unveiled as part of celebrations for the 90th anniversary of the ministry’s headquarters – designed by renowned fascist architect Marcello Piacentini.

The statement noted that another picture of Mussolini hangs in Palazzo Chigi, the prime minister’s office, along with portraits of other Italian heads of government.

Mussolini, who ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943, was included in the gallery as he was also Minister for Corporations (a precursor of the current ministry) in 1932, the statement said.

Earlier, former centre-left leader and industry minister Pier Luigi Bersani chafed at being hung alongside Italy’s late dictator.

“I kindly ask … to have my picture removed,” he tweeted.

The public sector chapter of the CGIL, Italy’s largest trade union, was also outraged, condemning the “deplorable” display and calling for its immediate removal.

The newly-elected speaker of the Senate Ignazio La Russa joined the debate, pointing out a photo of Mussolini also hangs in the defence ministry while a huge obelisk in his honour stands outside Rome’s Olympic stadium.

“Are we going to join the cancel culture too,” asked La Russa, a veteran hard-right politician who began his career in the MSI and collects Mussolini memorabilia.

Meloni publicly praised Mussolini in her youth but says her party has left its post-fascist roots behind and is now a mainstream force akin to Britain’s Conservative Party.

“The Italian right has handed fascism over to history for decades now, unambiguously condemning the suppression of democracy and the ignominious anti-Jewish laws,” she said during her successful campaign for last month’s elections.

(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Gavin Jones and Alexandra Hudson)