The media have often fallen for a narrative that suggests Italy is undergoing a fascist revival as far-right forces sweep across Europe. In the run-up to Italy’s March 2018 general election, the Guardian wrote that CasaPound had “brought Mussolini back to the mainstream” and a Channel 4 documentary flattered the group’s rhetoric of “filling in for an absent state”. Yet CasaPound's media presence is entirely out of proportion with its electoral support. The group counts just 5,000 members, recently abandoned all efforts to stand in elections, and declared itself “a movement, not a party” – realising that its best prospects lie in working as a satellite of the right-wing Lega Nord party.

Contrary to media reports of a neo-fascist revival, fascism in Italy never really went away. In 1945, the Italian Social Movement (MSI) was founded by veterans of Mussolini’s regime. After the end of the Cold War, MSI leaders sought a break with their fascist image. In 1994–5 MSI leaders Gianni Alemanno and Gianfranco Fini rebranded the party as Alleanza Nazionale – a “national-conservative” force in Silvio Berlusconi’s coalition. Fascism had undergone a makeover: it had reformed its image, and managed to fold itself into the mainstream.