Italy’s frontrunner party suspends candidate who praised Hitler

A parliamentary candidate for Italy’s far-right Fratelli d’Italia party — the favorite to win the upcoming election despite its fascist history — has been suspended after it was revealed that he praised Adolf Hitler on social media.

The move comes as Giorgia Meloni, the frontrunner for prime minister, tries to improve the image of her party, which is rooted in Benito Mussolini’s fascist ideology.

Calogero Pisano, the leader of the party’s local branch in the province of Agrigento in Sicily, and member of its national leadership, is suspended “with immediate effect” from his party duties, says a statement sent to AFP.

He “no longer represents FdI at any level and he is prohibited from using its logo,” it says, adding that he has been summoned before the party’s governing bodies for possible additional sanctions.

Meloni's FdI suspends candidate who hailed Hitler.
Jewish community protested about Calogero Pisano's statements.https://t.co/DXZULUmDLp https://t.co/daqOhjgQ0s

— Ansa English News (@ansa_english) September 20, 2022

In a Facebook post from 2014, commenting on a campaign poster featuring Meloni with the slogan “Italy above everything,” Pisano commented that the poster “reminds me of a great statesman 70 years ago, specifying that he was not speaking of Mussolini but of a “German.”

Other publications indicate an attachment to historical fascism, according to La Repubblica.