A Brothers of Italy politician who collects fascist memorabilia has been elected speaker of the upper house of parliament in the first step towards the formation of Italy’s most rightwing government since the second world war.
Ignazio La Russa, a former defence minister whose father was secretary of Benito Mussolini’s fascist party, co-founded Brothers of Italy alongside leader Giorgia Meloni, who is poised to become prime minister of a government that includes Matteo Salvini’s far-right League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.
