FROM MUSSOLINI TO SALVINI

LORENZ GALLMETZER in dialogue with TESSA SZYSZKOWITZ

FROM MUSSOLINI TO SALVINI
ITALY AS A PIONEER OF MODERN NATIONAL POPULISM

Is Matteo Salvini's Lega a classic radical right-wing, nationalist party? What best describes Italy's new strongman: pre-fascist, totalitarian, autocratic, illiberal, sovereigntist or simply populist? In his recently published book, Lorenz Gallmetzer shows which historical factors made the current development possible and what dubious „pioneering role“ Italy has always played. Benito Mussolini's political mass movement and dictatorship served as a model for fascism from Portugal to Yugoslavia and inspired Hitler, while the media czar and decidedly non-politician Silvio Berlusconi anticipated Donald Trump's political style.

Lorenz Gallmetzer, South Tyrolean journalist and author. From 1981 to 2011, he worked for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation as a foreign correspondent in Paris and Washington. Gallmetzer lives as a freelance journalist in Vienna.

Tessa Szyszkowitz, journalist and author of the book Echte Engländer. Britain after Brexit, Picus Verlag.

Lorenz Gallmetzer's book From Mussolini to Salvini. Italy as a pioneer of modern national populism was published by Kremayr & Scheriau in September 2019 (ISBN-13: 9783218011822)