The victory for the Italian right in Sunday’s parliamentary elections is, in a certain sense, a landmark moment for Italy and for European democracy. But there are strong grounds for questioning the view, occasionally expressed outside Italy during the election campaign, that the result portends a lurch towards extremism.

Under the Christian Democrats, the right dominated Italy’s governments during the Cold War. From the 1990s, it continued to hold the upper hand much of the time, thanks largely to Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party. But this is the first election in which a party with neo-fascist roots, the Brothers of Italy, has emerged as the strongest force on the right and in the country as a whole.

Financial Times