Alessandra Mussolini

MEP
Alessandra Mussolini
Member of the European Parliament
for Central Italy
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 July 2014
In office
20 July 2004 – 28 April 2008
Member of Senate
In office
8 March 2013 – 30 June 2014
Constituency Campania
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
18 December 2008 – 14 March 2013
Constituency XIX – Campania 1
Personal details
Born 30 December 1962
Rome, Italy
Nationality Italian
Political party Forza Italia (2013-present)
Other political
affiliations		 Italian Social Movement (1992-1995)
National Alliance (1995-2003)
Social Action (2003-2009)
The People of Freedom (2009-2013)
Spouse(s) Mauro Floriani (1989 to date)
Relations Benito Mussolini (Grandfather)
Romano Mussolini (Father)
Sophia Loren (Aunt)
Children 3
Profession Actress, politician
Religion Roman Catholic

Alessandra Mussolini (born 30 December 1962) is an Italian politician, the granddaughter of Benito Mussolini, and previously an actress and model. She is since 2013 a member of the Italian Senate, elected for The People of Freedom which later became part of Forza Italia, and since 2014 a Member of the European Parliament for Forza Italia.

She was the founder and leader of the national conservative political party Social Action; from 2004 until 2008, Mussolini also served as a Member of the European Parliament, and she has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Italian Parliament, for The People of Freedom.[1]

Some of Mussolini's noted stances are in regard to social views on women's and children's rights and the role within both the family unit and society in general.[2]

Personal life

Alessandra Mussolini was born in Rome, the daughter of Romano Mussolini, the fourth son of Benito Mussolini, Fascist dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1944, and Anna Maria Villani Scicolone (born 11 May 1938, Rome). The actress Sophia Loren is her maternal aunt.

From 1976 to 1980 she went to high school at the American Overseas School of Rome. She graduated in 1986 from Sapienza University of Rome, where she got her master of science in medicine and surgery.

She married customs policeman Mauro Floriani on 28 October 1989. Going against tradition, she proposed to him.[3] Together they have three children,[4] Caterina, Clarissa, and Romano – the last named after his grandfather. Later, the children adopted their mother's surname, but she went through a complex legal process to allow them to do so. She has since campaigned for Italian law to be changed to allow all children to take their mother's last name if they wish.[5]

Entertainment career

Mussolini was taken under the wing of her aunt Sophia Loren for a while and started a career as an actress in the Italian language film industry during the 1970s. A Special Day (1977), in which she had a minor role as "Maria Luisa", won an American Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

During 1982, Mussolini released a pop music album of romantic songs under the title Amore on Alfa Records; the album was released only in Japan and has since become something of a collectors item.[6] Mussolini also appeared as a glamour model,[7] including on the cover of two European editions of Playboy, in Italy (August 1983) and Germany (November 1983).[8][9] "When you are an actress, you are dealing with the body. Every actress does topless and stuff like this; you have to.", she has said.[2]

Mussolini continued as an actress into the 1980s. Some of the films she featured in were made for Italian television. However, she still acted in standard cinematic films, such as The Assisi Underground in which she played a nun; the movie focused on the Roman Catholic Church rescuing Italian Jews from the Nazis in 1943.[10] She starred in her final film in 1990 and then left the film industry to continue studying after a producer asked her to change her name.[2]

Political career

In 1992, she was elected to parliament in a Naples constituency as a member of the Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI).

She later was a candidate for the post of mayor of Naples, but was defeated by Antonio Bassolino. Her relations with Gianfranco Fini, leader of the Alleanza Nazionale, never were very good, she announced; she then later withdrew, resigning over differences with him at least once.[11] She unsuccessfully challenged him for leadership of the party when he withdrew support for Benito Mussolini in a television interview in January 2002.[12][13]

Mussolini suddenly left National Alliance on 28 November 2003, following the visit of party leader and the Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini to Israel, where he described fascism as part "the absolute evil" with regard to the Holocaust as he apologised for Italy's role as an Axis Power during the Second World War.[14] Mussolini, however, defended the right of Israel to exist and declared that the world "should beg forgiveness of Israel".[15]

Following her resignation, Mussolini formed her Social Action party, originally named "Freedom of Action", and organised a coalition named Social Alternative. The move was read in the Italian media as surprising because of Mussolini's "progressive" stances on many issues, including abortion,[16] artificial insemination,[17][18] gay rights[19] and civil unions.[20] She has been an outspoken feminist[21] and has been described by conservative commentators as a "socialist"[22] and a "left-winger".[23]

In the European Parliament Election, 2004 her electoral list, Social Alternative, gained 1.2% of the vote. Mussolini herself received 133,000 preference votes.

In response to a comment made by UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom in which he said that "No self-respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a lady of child-bearing age. That isn't politically correct, is it, but it's a fact of life. The more women's rights you have, it's actually a bar to their employment."[24] and: "I just don't think [women] clean behind the fridge enough,"[25] Mussolini responded by saying

I know the English have a sense of humour about themselves, but I am from Naples and I can say that we women do know how to cook and clean the refrigerator and even be politicians, while perhaps Godfrey Bloom does not know either how to clean the refrigerator or how to be a politician.[26]

In March 2005, Mussolini was banned by a local court from regional elections held the following month for presenting fraudulent signatures.[27] "This is an affront to democracy, if they're going to exclude the Social Alternative they will have to exclude all the parties, because all the signature lists are false", Mussolini told Reuters.[28] Mussolini went on a hunger strike to protest the decision.[29] However, at the end of the month Italy's top administrative court, the Council of State, annulled the decision and she stood for election.[30]

In 2006 she responded to claims by the transgender Italian M.P. candidate Vladimir Luxuria that she was a 'fascist' with the line "Meglio fascista che frocio" ("Better fascist than faggot").[31]

In November 2007, remarks by Mussolini triggered the collapse of the far-right Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty grouping within the European Parliament.[32] Mussolini declared that all Romanians were criminals in remarks regarding immigration policy. This prompted delegates from the Greater Romania Party to quit the group, bringing the group below the minimum number of members to qualify as a caucus and receive Parliamentary funding.

After the Italian general elections of April 2008, Mussolini served as a member of the Italian parliament within Silvio Berlusconi's alliance of right wing parties, The People of Freedom.[1]

Mussolini condemned the Vatican's comparison of homosexuality with pedophilia, stating "You can't link sexual orientation to pedophilia … this link risks becoming dangerously misleading for the protection of children."[33]

In the Italian general election in February 2013, she was elected to the Senate of the Republic (Italy) for The People of Freedom. The party was transformed into a new Forza Italia in November 2013.[34]

In the 2014 European Parliament election, Mussolini was elected to the EP for Forza Italia.[35]

Filmography

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Deputati – MUSSOLINI Alessandra, website of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Alessandra Mussolini: Politician in stilettos". The Independent. 8 February 2004. Retrieved 3 January 2008. Also archived at FindArticles.com as "Mussolini In Stilettos" by Susan Chenery.
  3. ↑ "Chronicle" Nadine Brozan, The New York Times, 15 November 1994.
  4. ↑ daily telegraph, 11 March 2014
  5. ↑ "Mussolini calls for new naming law" Malcolm Moore, The Daily Telegraph, 31 May 2006
  6. ↑ "Alessandra Mussolini – Amore (1982)". Orrore a 33 Giri. 13 April 2007. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 3 January 2008.
  7. ↑ Jan Repa (9 January 2004). "Italy's post-fascists to regroup". BBC News. Retrieved 3 January 2008.
  8. ↑ "Playboy Italy – Covers of 1983". PBCovers. August 1983. Archived from the original on 25 December 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2008.
  9. ↑ "Playboy Germany – Covers of 1983". PBCovers. November 1983. Retrieved 3 January 2008.
  10. ↑ "The Assisi Underground (1985)". IMDb. Retrieved 3 January 2008.
  11. ↑ "A Mussolini Quits Rightist Party in Italy" The New York Times, 15 November 1996.
  12. ↑ "Alessandra Mussolini seeks leadership of Italy's far Right" by Bruce Johnston, The Daily Telegraph, 26 January 2002
  13. ↑ "Mussolini to challenge party boss", CNN, 25 January 2002
  14. ↑ "La Mussolini lascia An "Gianfranco ha tradito"". Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  15. ↑ "Mussolini: World should 'beg forgiveness of Israel'". Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  16. ↑ "la Mussolini: macche' omicidio cosi' si criminalizzano le donne". Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  17. ↑ "Embrioni, da Mussolini a Melandri e' ancora polemica". Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  18. ↑ "Fecondazione, il Parlamento vara le regole". Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  19. ↑ "Destra e gay, pace vicina. Alessandra Mussolini: tra loro ho molti amici". Retrieved 8 July 2008. See also: "Alessandra: per una volta sono vicina alla sinistra". Retrieved 8 July 2008. and "La Mussolini piace ai gay e mette in imbarazzo An". Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  20. ↑ "Turco-Mussolini, Thelma e Louise della politica "Tanta invidia ma andiamo avanti lo stesso"". Retrieved 8 July 2008. See also: "Raddoppiano le coppie di fatto Polo contro la proposta Mussolini". Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  21. ↑ "Alessandra Mussolini: ora serve un nuovo femminismo". Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  22. ↑ "Buttafuoco: Mussolini, vattene con l' Ulivo Alessandra: triste non sapere dove buttarsi". Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  23. ↑ "An s' interroga su Alessandra "E' di destra o femminista?"". Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  24. ↑ Booth, Jenny (20 July 2004). "UKIP man champions a woman's right to clean fridges". TimesOnline.
  25. ↑ "UKIP MEP in row over working women". BBC. 21 July 2004.
  26. ↑ Quote in the original language Italian: "So che gli Inglesi hanno il senso dell’autoironia, ma io sono napoletana e posso dire che noi donne sappiamo cucinare e pulire i frigoriferi e facciamo anche politica, mentre forse Godfrey Bloom non-sa né pulire i frigoriferi, né fare politica."
  27. ↑ "Alessandra Mussolini barred from election because of faked signatures" by John Hooper, The Guardian, 14 March 2005
  28. ↑ "Mussolini’s granddaughter barred from vote", Reuters, 13 March 2005, Tiscali News
  29. ↑ "Hunger Strike By Mussolini", Associated Press, 15 March 2005, CBS News
  30. ↑ "Q&A: Italy regional elections", BBC News, 1 April 2005
  31. ↑ "Mussolini a Vladimir Luxuria 'Meglio fascista che frocio'", La Repubblica, 9 March 2006 (Italian)
  32. ↑ "Xenophobia destroys EU's ultra-rightwing MEP group", The Guardian, 15 November 2007
  33. ↑ Pullella, Philip (14 April 2010). "Vatican under fire for linking gays to pedophilia". Reuters.
  34. ↑ Alessandra MUSSOLINI (Italian) Senato.it. Retrieved 21 June 2014 (archived at Webcitation)
  35. ↑ Remi Adekoya et al (26 May 2014)Meet the new faces ready to sweep into the European parliament The Guardian.

External links