Italy's centre-left opposition on
Friday slammed the Business and Made in Italy ministry's
decision to have a postage stamp printed in honour of Italo
Foschi, a Fascist thug leader who founded AS Roma, one of the
Italian capital's two soccer clubs.
"This is offensive and shameful, a stain on our Republic, a
stain for those, Jews and political opponents, who were
persecuted by Foschi," said centre-left Democratic Party Senator
Francesco Verducci, deputy chair on the upper house's
anti-discrimination panel.
Leftwing populist 5-star Movement (M5S) Senator Sabrina Licheri,
another member of the panel, said the decision by the ministry
was "disgraceful and indescribable," coming as it does just a
few days after the 100th anniversary of the 'death speech' by
Socialist MP Giacomo Matteotti who was murdered after denouncing
Fascist violence and electoral fraud in the 1924 general
election that led to Mussolini's seizure of power.
"Just a few days ago, Premier (Giorgia) Meloni praised the
figure of Matteotti and now, instead, on the part of her
government, comes the umpteenth declaration of their fascist
roots", she said.
Meloni's rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party has its roots
in the neo-Fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI), founded by
Mussolini diehards at the end of World War Two.
Business Minister Adolfo Urso is an FdI bigwig.
Meloni has repeatedly condemned Fascism, which she says the
Italian right has consigned to the dustbin of history for
decades.
Foschi, a leading Fascist gerarca or high-ranking official, and
a squadrista or political gang leader also, founded Roma on June
7, 1927.
The Giallorossi, as they are known, are one of Rome's two teams
along with SS Lazio.
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