The ‘burden’ of the name
Mussolini told La Repubblica newspaper that she wanted nothing to do with the “burden” of her family name, adding that she had “many left-wing friends.”
“In the past, I got interviewed only because of my family name. During my last term, they started asking about the initiatives I promoted on the city council. I’ve worked hard,” she told Wednesday’s edition of the paper.
“I learned to live with my surname since I was a child,” she said. “At school, they used to point at me, but then Rachele emerged and the person (that I am) prevailed over the surname, however burdensome that name is.”
She refused to be drawn too far into answering a question about her views on fascism, saying only that she was against its glorification and adding: “To deal with this subject, we’d need to talk until tomorrow morning.”
She is the daughter of Romano Mussolini, who was a jazz pianist and brother-in-law to actor Sophia Loren.
Rachele Mussolini, the 47-year-old granddaughter of Italy’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, has garnered enough votes in Rome’s municipal election for a second term as a city councilor.
With almost all of the votes counted on Wednesday, she received over 8,200 votes in the October 3-4 municipal election — more than any other candidate.
Standing for the far-right Brothers of Italy party, Mussolini won far more votes than the 657 she had received in the previous ballot in 2016.