“If Meloni goes after Vannacci, she’ll be making a huge mistake,” says Nicola Porro

And finally, Giorgia Meloni too has come out in defence of Mario Roggero, the jeweller who killed in revenge rather than in self-defence – as the Court of Cassation has reaffirmed. Is the Vannacci whirlwind too powerful, or is the fear of being sidelined in the race towards the extremes imposed by the general? “Chasing after Vannacci is madness,” states Nicola Porro, deputy editor of "Il Giornale" and presenter of "Quarta Repubblica" on Rete4. “However, courting an electorate that identifies with Vannacci is by no means madness: these are two completely different matters. And when you pretend that a certain type of voter does not exist, whether on the right or the left, you are making a serious political mistake. I do, however, understand the coalition’s dilemma.” Meaning? “At the start of the parliamentary term, the Meloni government’s problem was establishing a ruling class; today it is avoiding creating an opposition to its right. This is an entirely new trend, typical of the left. But it must be addressed seriously: the right can only remain the governing right if it manages to capitalise on the sentiments fuelled by the Vannacci camp. There cannot be a 10 per cent political force outside the majority. I say this for their sake.”

Yet chasing after him doesn’t pay off. Salvini had already tried to pull Roggero’s sleeve, with little success: faced with such sensational news stories, people choose the original – and so does the jeweller. “Meloni’s communication strategy may well be coming a bit late,” says the journalist in Il Foglio, “but the key point is how to respond effectively to the general’s challenge, by trying to understand the reason behind his success. So we need to tap into public discontent with common sense, generated in this case by an absurd court ruling.” Roggero, however, shot at three men, killing two of them. By the time he fired, they had already left his shop following the robbery.

“Even though I know he was in the wrong, I am among those who defend him. We are living in a brutal contradiction: he is not a criminal, yet he has committed a crime – note this subtle but substantial difference – and yet the state has failed to find, through legislation and legal interpretations, a way for Roggero to gain a legal and institutional understanding of his actions. I think there is a serious failure on the part of the legislature to grasp exactly the weight of responsibility in this case: how is it possible that there is a law providing for compensation of 3 million euros for the families of robbers? A bit of realism would be welcome.”

According to Porro, “this gives the impression that there has been another Dreyfus affair – which is an exaggeration, of course: the French soldier was entirely innocent; it was the jeweller who fired the shot. Yet that element of compensation helps to fuel the feeling that justice has not been done”. So, let’s treat it all as a scandal, and claim that ailing Italy urgently needs shock therapy: Vannacci. “With this incomprehensible ruling, the judges seem to have wanted to declare that there is an emergency, and that the emergency is the Italians’ thirst for revenge. I don’t think this is the right angle to take at the moment, from a social perspective. I understand the risk posed by gunmen, and I reject vigilante justice, but the ruling as a whole shifts the focus onto the real emergency: if anything, the water to put out the fire should be poured on the narrative of trigger-happy citizens and torturing police officers. I say this as a liberal and a libertarian: we are wrong to place the Roggero case within the typical categories of the right and the left. On this point, Meloni is right.”

So Giorgia is wrong on form, not substance? “Vannaccism must not be fought on the general’s favourite battlegrounds, where he wins by default – security, law and order, the ‘strongman’ narrative. But on the core issues of the liberal right: the economy, justice, foreign policy. That’s where Vannacci is extremely vulnerable; we’ll be discussing this in the coming days at La Ripartenza 2026”, the annual event bringing together the business and institutional worlds that Porro will host in Maratea between 17 and 19 July.

“During his many television appearances, has anyone ever asked Vannacci what he thinks of tax reform? We need to push him on the issue where he is most vulnerable: this is the central issue. A country without a free economy, weak on bureaucracy and rights, and shifting towards corporatism – as he would like – is a dead country. So the security issue does exist and must not be denied. But on everything else, Meloni’s leadership has a wealth of issues on which to counter-argue: GDP, productive efficiency, international standing. Governing is always extremely complicated. The true strength of this right-wing movement lies in being a governing right, with governing solutions. In the tradition of liberalism and Atlanticism: this is the set of shared values that Vannacci will never be able to beat.”