Hundreds of anti-fascists march in Mussolini’s birthplace

By PAOLO SANTALUCIA and LUCA BRUNO
Associated Press

PREDAPPIO, Italy (AP) — About 1,000 anti-fascists have celebrated the anniversary of the 1944 liberation of Benito Mussolini’s birthplace. Meanwhile, scattered fascist nostalgics quietly marked the 100th anniversary of the March on Rome that brought the Italian dictator to power in a bloodless coup. An organization representing partisans who fought to free Italy from fascism and Nazi occupiers organized Friday’s march in Predappio, where Mussolini was born and buried. Italy’s uneasy reckoning with its fascist past was under scrutiny as the dual anniversaries coincided with Premier Giorgia Meloni’s first week as head of the first postwar government led by a party with neo-fascist roots. Organizers of the anti-fascist march placed security outside souvenir shops selling Mussolini memorabilia.