Cross-dressers and friends of drag queens. A map of Fn in Rome

Scratch a Martian, win a Vannacciano. Futurist geography, in the city, comes alive with faces and names that aren’t exactly alien but are certainly a bit colourful. There are former members of Fratelli d’Italia, former Northern League members, former Christian Democrats, and loyal Alemannians. There are Meloni’s ‘poor cousins’ – the political turncoats – and even organisers of drag queen events (after all, dressing up is a bit like transforming oneself). It should be noted that this may simply be the phenomenon of a new party which, like new romances, is in its infancy and therefore somewhat unruly… Nonetheless, at the top of Fn’s list is a likely mayoral candidate, Marco Pomarici, who was previously a Rome city councillor for Alfano’s New Centre-Right – the liberals’ refuge – then joined Salvini’s League of the Peoples (the ‘Carroccio’ of the south), and is now the Roman leader of the Futurists. Pomarici, on whom the party is staking everything, owns a ‘wine bar’ in Prati. It’s called MiVa, and it’s certainly tasty, even if it’s perhaps a bit un-Italian. Salmon, tacos, cosmopolitan dishes, ingredients with an immigrant background… In Fratelli d’Italia, they play at being the purest of the pure, and then they say that ‘the Vannacciani, in Rome, have been in every household’ (let he who is without a turncoat cast the first stone). What is certain, however, is that even the general who loves Sardinian pork will now have to make do with whatever dishes the chef serves him (including ‘curry mayonnaise’).

From gastronomy to national onomastics, Pomarici’s deputy is Brian Carelli. He ranks just below the coordinator and, whilst his name may be as foreign as salmon, it is true that his faith in Vannacci runs deep here. Carelli, in fact, was formerly the leader of Gioventù Identitaria. That is to say, the youth wing of the National Movement for Sovereignty led by Gianni Alemanno and Francesco Storace. A Eurosceptic from the very beginning, Brian has found his lost paradise in Fn-Roma.

Something similar then happened to the much older Antonio Maria Rinaldi, who was left high and dry by the Lega – as he told Il Foglio months ago – after announcing that he would stand as a mayoral candidate for Salvini. Rinaldi is now Vannacci’s Tremonti. As the party’s economic spokesperson, he posts photos of himself on Instagram with Pomarici. He is a familiar face and a safe bet for the small screen (where the Futurists feel ostracised: “Rai excludes us”), and it is not out of the question that he could be the man for the Campidoglio, reporting to the coordinator.

Among the defectors from the Lega and FdI – in search of a better future – we note once again the former UDC and later Lega member Gianni Avveduto, councillor for the 7th municipal district, and Francesco Biava. Biava’s political journey has been a veritable slalom, and entirely Rome-centred: former chief of staff to Alemanno during his time as Minister for Agriculture, MP for the People of Freedom party, then chief of staff to Luciano Crea, chair of the Culture Committee in the Lazio Regional Assembly with the Rocca civic list, and now, alongside the General, head of the Fn in the province of Rome.

However, as some observers have noted, the fledgling party resembles a first love: a revolution in which anything goes, where the Parachutist’s Decalogue dissolves and military discipline gives way to nonchalance—or even debauchery. Meloni’s supporters therefore view Vannacci’s followers as a caricature of themselves. They perceive them as Freudianly unsettling, like bizarre relatives… But beware. Because perhaps that is precisely the case. Among the ranks of the Roman futurists, in fact, there is no shortage of relatives from the Fratelli d’Italia party. Nicola Colosimo, for instance, is a cousin of the better-known Chiara, the honourable ‘sister’ and chair of the Anti-Mafia Commission. Colosimo (Nicola) was at one time put forward by Alemanno as a mayoral candidate for Indipendenza. But since Rome – that political laboratory – is perhaps the most uninhibited city in Italy, here at last is the man you least expect. The Futurist-Eliogabalo and the party’s local representative, Andrea Stranieri, who organises book launches through his marketing company. The title of the latest essay presented? ‘XX YY Uomini e donne nella danza erotica’. Guest of honour? ‘La Franca Miseria’. A marvellous drag queen.