There’s a new “rising star” on Italy’s political stage who’s more dangerous than Giorgia Meloni. As the former fascist premier has taken a softer, less extremist and more centrist stance since her rise to power, a soldier has filled the vacuum she left on Italy’s far right field.
Roberto Vannacci, 57, from Liguria, is a former special forces general, whose long career took him to some of the world’s hottest spots, including Somalia, Yemen and Afghanistan. He also served in Iraq, training units in the fight against Islamic State – and now he plans to go on the offensive against Meloni at next year’s general election. Vannacci is a very alarming man.
In 2023, he caused havoc when he self-published a book titled The World Upside Down, in which he targeted immigrants, same-sex couples, gender identity and minority groups. Vannacci is against abortion and wants all gay people banned from primetime television.
Following the publication of his book, the military suspended him, and politics welcomed him. After being elected to the European Parliament as a Lega candidate in 2024, Vannacci left the party in February this year and went his own way.
Earlier this year, Vannacci founded the National Future party, “Futuro Nazionale” (FN), an extremist, right wing political group that has positioned itself explicitly as a challenger to Meloni.
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Vannacci’s tactic is to exploit nostalgic, fascist rhetoric and policies that go back to Mussolini. One AI-generated video, crammed with fascist imagery, showed him dressed as a Roman emperor and ordering the deaths of political opponents. Somehow, this appeals to some Italians.
The irony is that he’s very close to what Meloni was 20 years ago, back when she was a campaigning, pro-fascist student activist at Rome University, dreaming of power. Recent polls suggest Meloni should now be very concerned about her new opponent. He may be new to politics, but there’s no doubt that he poses a significant threat.
Vannacci’s FN party is currently polling at 8%, meaning his support is growing faster than Meloni managed with her Brothers of Italy party. What’s even scarier is that Vannacci is an outsider, not a real politician.
In just seven months, his FN party has gone from zero to becoming the fourth most popular party in Italy. According to recent polls it’s ahead of Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (6.9%) and Salvini’s Lega party (5%), which are part of the ruling coalition together with Meloni. So at present, FN stands as Italy’s second rightist party.
Vannacci’s strategy towards Meloni has been to attack. He accuses her of forfeiting hardcore rightist policies. He is attempting to frame her as a “soft” rightist government that has taken the knee to Brussels and internationalism for the greater good.
The former general’s foreign policy views are the opposite of Meloni’s. Vannacci opposes the western countries’ unconditional support for Ukraine’s independence and wants closer ties with Moscow. He’s openly against the European Union and Nato. He is “Trumpist”, just like Meloni and Salvini were before they actually turned mainstream – which is how they won the elections.
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But Vannacci constantly defends Trump and his policies, and often uses MAGA-style language. As bizarre a figure as he may appear, many Italians are still fascinated by propaganda that echoes fascism. Meloni has publicly condemned Vannacci’s fascist positions and ruled out political alliances with him ahead of the elections.
But if, after the vote, his movement were to be confirmed as the second largest rightist party in Italy and Meloni does not have enough votes to rule on her own, Meloni’s attitude towards this open fascist could change very quickly.
