Twelve individuals from the fringe organization CasaPound in Italy have been sentenced to prison for attempting to revive the Fascist Party, which was in power from 1922 to 1943 under the rule of dictator Benito Mussolini. This marks the first application of a law prohibiting the “reorganization of the dissolved Fascist party” to the neo-fascist group, as reported by Repubblica.
The incident occurred in 2018 when CasaPound members assaulted individuals participating in a protest against Matteo Salvini, the leader of the anti-immigrant League party at the time and former interior minister. Following a trial in Bari, located in southern Italy, all defendants were found guilty and handed 18-month prison sentences, with seven of them also receiving 12-month sentences for assault.
Elly Schlein, the head of the center-left opposition Democratic Party, urged Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government to outlaw the group, emphasizing the necessity highlighted by the recent court ruling. CasaPound, situated in Rome, draws its name from Ezra Pound, the American poet who collaborated with Fascist Italy during World War II.
Despite participating in parliamentary elections in 2013 and 2018 and garnering less than one percent of the vote, CasaPound opted not to partake in subsequent polls. Videos have surfaced showing CasaPound members giving the Fascist salute in Rome, a gesture criticized in 2024 by current Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi as being “contrary to our democratic culture.”
Piantedosi noted the complexities of banning such groups due to limited legal provisions allowing for such measures. While Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party traces its origins to the MSI, a party formed by Mussolini supporters post-World War II, the prime minister has openly condemned Fascism and acknowledged Fascist Italy’s involvement in the Holocaust.