Around a thousand Mussolini supporters gathered on Sunday in Predappio, the northern Italian town where dictator Benito Mussolini was born and buried, to mark the 103rd anniversary of the March on Rome– the 1922 event that ushered in two decades of fascist rule in Italy.
The annual commemoration, held on 28 October, drew a crowd dressed largely in black, recalling Mussolini’s Blackshirts, and included some families with children. The Mussolini supporters event in Predappio was organised by Mussolini’s great-granddaughters, Orsola and Vittoria Mussolini, who had appealed for restraint and urged participants to avoid fascist salutes.
They instead asked attendees to place a hand on their heart during the ceremony when the crowd shouts “Presente!” – the traditional far-right rallying cry honouring “fallen comrades”. The appeal followed recent court rulings clarifying that the Roman salute may constitute a criminal offence under Italy’s “apology of fascism” laws.
Despite this, dozens of participants, including members of the neo-fascist political movement Forza Nuova, ignored the family’s request and performed the salute. The party’s leader, Roberto Fiore, reportedly encouraged the gesture. Police had earlier banned a separate Forza Nuova march to Mussolini’s crypt at the San Cassiano cemetery, leading the group to join the main procession instead.
Responding to the tension, Orsola Mussolini told reporters the event was “complicated by the presence of a political force I won’t even name, but it created unfavourable conditions just to gain visibility, while we are gathered here for a moment of prayer.”
Officers maintained a strong presence and recorded the procession using portable cameras. No violent incidents were reported.
Oltre mille persone al raduno di Predappio, tornano i saluti romani. Per commemorare la Marcia su Roma hanno sfilato nel comune natale di Mussolini #ANSA pic.twitter.com/4jylvoUuTN
— Agenzia ANSA (@Agenzia_Ansa) October 26, 2025
The gathering comes amid renewed scrutiny of Italy’s far-right movements and the legal boundaries of fascist symbolism. In April 2024, Italy’s top court ruled that performing the fascist salute may be a crime even at commemorative events, depending on factors such as setting, repetition and potential for emulation. The court reaffirmed that prosecutors may apply the 1952 Scelba Law against attempts to revive fascism or the 1993 Mancino Law covering hate and discrimination offences.
Earlier this year, Rome police launched an investigation after hundreds of people performed the fascist salute at the annual Acca Larentia memorial, which commemorates three members of the youth wing of the neo-fascist Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI) killed in 1978. Thirty-one members of the extreme-right CasaPound group now face trial for violating those same laws.
The Mussolini supporters march in Predappio continues to divide opinion in Italy, where critics say the yearly homage risks normalising fascism under the guise of historical remembrance.
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