The Italian Ministry of Economic Development will remove a photo of dictator Benito Mussolini from one of its walls after receiving complaints from unions and a former minister. The image will be removed “to avoid controversy and manipulation”, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday (18).
Mussolini, Italy’s dictator from 1922 to 1943, was included in the gallery of the building in Rome because he was also Minister of Corporations (forerunner of the current ministry) in the last year of his regime, according to the statement.
The portrait is part of a series of photos of former ministers, recently inaugurated as part of the celebrations for the 90th anniversary of the ministry’s headquarters, designed by renowned fascist architect Marcello Piacentini — the same one who designed the São Paulo City Hall building.
Mussolini’s legacy is now in the spotlight as Italy prepares to inaugurate its most right-wing government since World War II, led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, whose roots go back to the Italian Social Movement (MSI). ) post-fascist.
According to the statement, another photo of Mussolini hangs in Palazzo Chigi, the prime minister’s office, in Rome, along with portraits of other Italian heads of government.
Earlier on Tuesday, Pier Luigi Bersani, a former center-left leader and former minister of economic development, was annoyed to have his portrait hung next to the fascist leader. “I kindly ask that my photo be removed,” he said on Twitter.
Italy’s largest union, the General Italian Confederation of Labor (CGIL) called the display of the photo deplorable and called for its immediate removal.
But there were also opposing voices in the government. The newly elected president of the Senate, Ignazio La Russa, a Mussolini fan and a collector of fascism objects, pointed out that the dictator’s photo is also hanging in the Ministry of Defense and a huge obelisk in his honor stands outside the Olympic Stadium. from Rome.
“Are we going to embrace the culture of cancellation too?” asked La Russa, a veteran politician of the Italian far-right and co-founder of the Brothers of Italy, along with virtual prime minister Giorgia Meloni.
Elected in late September, Meloni has publicly praised Mussolini, but claims his party has left its post-fascist roots behind and is now a dominant force similar to the UK’s Conservative Party. “The Italian right handed fascism to history decades ago, unequivocally condemning the suppression of democracy and the ignominious anti-Jewish laws,” she said during her campaign.
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