Italian former general Roberto Vannacci has launched his new far-right party, posing a direct challenge to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's grip on power as he seeks to pull Italy in a more hardline, nationalist direction ahead of elections next year.
Introduced by a party official as a modern-day Julius Caesar, the 57-year-old former paratrooper was greeted by chants of "Generale, Generale, Generale" as he took to the stage of Futuro Nazionale's inaugural congress.
"We represent the rejects and the dregs, and are proud of it," said Vannacci, who is looking to outflank Meloni's conservative coalition on the right, four months after quitting Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini's League party.
