Sforzini, president of the Vannacci Research Centre: “Fascism in the Fn? A chilling atmosphere. The general should look to the future”

 “All this creates a chilling atmosphere in our circles,” sighs Luca Sforzini. The ‘liberal’ wing of Futuro Nazionale. “I stand by my republican background; I was deputy secretary of the Republican Party in Lombardy.” An entrepreneur, he is now director of the Centro Studi Rinascimento Nazionale, Vannacci’s think tank. “We’ve been working with the general for about a year.” He speaks to Il Foglio and sends messages to FN, calling for a change of direction – or even of identity – for a party weighed down by nostalgia, with rhetoric and ideas that evoke fascism.

Yesterday, this newspaper published some exchanges from the chat group ‘Vannacci ultima speranza’. A clash between Sforzini and Roberto Jonghi Lavarini, the ‘Black Baron’. “Allow me to clarify something.” Please do. “It wasn’t a clash, but an observation. I called him a ‘genuine Nazi’, adding that for him it’s a compliment. It is no secret that Lavarini holds a positive view of fascism and even Nazism,” says Sforzini. There you have the “chilling atmosphere”. In response, Sforzini was labelled an Atlanticist and then a Zionist. “I am neither, nor am I even Jewish. But I recognise that Israel is the outpost of the Western world and the only democracy in the Middle East. This does not mean that the Israeli government cannot be criticised. There is, however, a huge difference between critical remarks and anti-Semitism.” But if there are those, like Lavarini, who wish to rehabilitate the regimes of Mussolini and Hitler, that difference risks disappearing. “Yes, but I wouldn’t want to attach too much importance to Lavarini. What frightens me is not this caricature, but what some members of the FN are in danger of doing.” What do you mean? “Legitimising and whitewashing the worst monsters of the 20th century.” And indeed, it is not just Lavarini. There are the “comrade” salutes at the party assembly, the Roman salutes, the references to the Decima Mas. Most recently, it appears that Fn intends to take part in a neo-Nazi rally in Trento. Vannacci, however, doesn’t say a word. “This constant harking back to the past,” Sforzini is convinced, “is detrimental. We haven’t had the chance to turn the page in our generation; must we leave this burden to our children?” In any case, the director of the research centre adds: “If we really must look back, Italy has some truly great historical figures, such as ancient Rome, Mazzini, Garibaldi and the Count of Cavour, who unite rather than divide. Is it really necessary to look back to that tragic past that led to civil war? Given that the party is called Futuro Nazionale, let us look to the challenges of this century: technology and AI, energy and Italy’s role in the Mediterranean. Or indeed the promotion of excellence and freedom: issues that have completely fallen off the radar.” In short, according to Sforzini, if Vannacci’s movement truly aims to take Giorgia Meloni’s place, it must not gravitate towards extremist or fascist strongholds. “We must bring certain movements – even extreme or protest-driven ones – back within the democratic order. This must be our task. There is a potential voter base of up to 30 per cent, but the leadership and the slogans that stem from it must reflect this electorate, represent it. This is the crossroads.” At present, the general does not seem to see it this way. The programme is heading in a completely different direction – in reverse. “The interest that Fn has aroused mainly concerns security, because there is a serious problem with public order, and then there is irregular immigration. These issues are interlinked. But it is one thing to propose solutions; it is quite another to seek, through these issues, to introduce a sort of Catholic sharia, to combat Islamic fundamentalism with another form of fundamentalism”.

Sforzini has said and written this on several occasions: he is not convinced by Fn’s programme. He did not mention him directly, but are these criticisms aimed at the ideologue Lorenzo Gasperini? “Look, it is a fact that the positions from Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus were introduced mainly by him. Besides, I wasn’t the one who went to the Lefebvrian gathering. It also strikes me as a bizarre choice for someone in a certain political role,” replies Sforzini. He counters the obscurantist model with another, asking Vannacci to be its chief advocate: “A polyphonic right. Thanks to our leader, the conditions are in place to build a modern right. Certainly social, traditionalist and Catholic. But also liberal, free-market and libertarian. There are various sensibilities and there is no reason to exclude any of them; we need to find a synthesis,” is Sforzini’s appeal. But it is not certain that it will be heeded. Is there a risk that Sforzini might leave the FN? “No, I want to fight this battle from within.”