Mussolini’s Hometown Can’t Figure Out How to Quit Him
How do you solve a problem like Predappio?
This small town in the hills of northern Italy where Mussolini was born in 1883 remains something of an enigma. The previous mayor called it the “Chernobyl of Italy”—a place too toxic to touch. It plays host to large neo-fascist rallies, souvenir shops selling Mussolini trinkets and the tomb of Il Duce himself, which lies in a crypt in the town’s municipal cemetery. All of this co-existing alongside 6,000 citizens in one of Italy’s most historically left-wing strongholds.
Since the end of World War II, Predappio’s citizens have routinely elected mayors from the political left. This was until 2019 when, as part of a right-wing surge across Italy that eventually brought Giorgia Meloni to power, Predappio elected its first right-wing mayor since the death of its most famous son.