Giorgia Meloni, a right-wing leader, has declared victory in the Italian election and is on track to become the country’s first female prime minister. The most right-wing Italian government since World War Two is expected to be formed, which will concern much of Europe as Italy is the EU’s third-biggest economy. 

She hasn’t always had Main Character Energy

A decade ago, Giorgia Meloni was a minor player in Italian politics. Last week, the 45-year-old far-right leader won the election, leading a right-wing coalition that garnered over 43% of the vote. Now, she is expected to become prime minister. 

She once worked at one of Italy’s most famous clubs

In her late teens or early twenties, she worked at Piper Club in Rome. The club was arguably Italy’s most famous rock music venue during the sixties, when The Who, The Spencer Davis Group, The Small Faces, Pink Floyd, and The Byrds were among the headliners. 

She has a daughter with her partner but is unmarried

Meloni met her partner, Andrea Giambruno, who works for Silvio Berlusconi’s Mediaset TV company, at work, and they’ve been together eight years. They have a six-year-old daughter together, Ginevra. Despite the tenure of their relationship – and Meloni campaigning on traditional family values – they are not married.

Meloni and her partner disagree on politics

Despite their seemingly identical professions, Meloni and Giambruno claim to hold wildly different political views. While Meloni campaigned and became Italy’s prime minister with the slogan ‘God, country, and family,’ Giambruno says he has always voted on the left and his “heart is there.”

She’s a big Tolkein-head

Meloni has long been inspired by The Lord of the Rings, which she calls a “sacred text”. As part of the Italian Social Movement, she attended ‘Hobbit Camp’ and sang with the militant folk band Compagnia dell’Anello (after The Fellowship of the Ring), which she later named her political conference Atreju after the character in The Neverending Story. Fantasy has long been a favorite among the Italian far right, which believes that it shares its ‘vision of spirituality against materialism.’

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