Of all the world’s elected female leaders Giorgia Meloni, the proudly Right-wing prime minister of Italy, is one of the least conventional — and certainly the most powerful. The 48-year-old leader of the Brothers of Italy party has now been prime minister for more than a thousand days, making hers the seventh-longest government in Italian democratic history.
I Am Giorgia, now appearing in English with a foreword from Donald Trump Jr, was written just after the Covid pandemic and before she became prime minister. It’s part autobiography and part credo, and all the more intriguing for that. Since taking office in October 2022, Meloni has guided Italy through the usual menu of political squalls with some aplomb — although not to everyone’s taste and approval.
Italy is suffering from massive public debt — more than 135 per cent of GDP — crashing birthrates and the onset of demographic wintering, a chronic illegal immigrant crisis, the strains of the war in Ukraine and being a major regional power sitting on the edge of Europe.
Sounds familiar? So unlike our own doubt-enshrouded islands you might say. The contrast starts with the leader herself — where charm, will and sense of purpose shine. She cuts through with wit and empathy in five languages, yet, as she herself recognises, is easily underestimated.
Her father scarpered, ending up in the Canaries with a new family and jail time for drug trafficking
I Am Giorgia sketches out the early days of a rough but very happy childhood in Garbatella, a working-class area of Rome. It was a team of three made up of her mother, and her sister Arianna, still her best mate and chief consigliere. Her father scarpered, ending up in the Canaries with a new family and a seven-year jail sentence for drug trafficking — strong elements in Meloni’s back story.
Tolkien, Dante ... and Jackson
Politics began when she joined the youth wing of the Italian Social Movement (MSI) at 15. With MSI and then the National Alliance (AN), she put the active into political activist — leafleting, marching, rallying, though not indulging in outright violence.
She became president of Youth Action, the AN’s youth branch, and went through a series of jobs, including barmaid at a famous night spot, the Piper Club. She was elected as an MP in 2006 and eight years later became head of the newly minted Brothers of Italy — only to face wipeout at two subsequent elections. In September 2022 the Brothers topped the poll, and Meloni formed today’s coalition.
In her story several things stand out: sheer guts and persistence, ingenuity and clear vision. In her final school exam, antagonistic teachers were forced to give her top marks for the sheer skill with which she argued her case for immigration control.
She writes that she taught herself English by learning the lyrics of Michael Jackson — although your correspondent doesn’t believe her, having heard her wonderful discourse about the English on her visit to London two years ago. A convinced anglophile, she is enthralled by the writings of JRR Tolkien, Sir Roger Scruton and Edmund Burke. Scruton is a guru, referenced frequently alongside Dante, Machiavelli, Baudelaire and Pulp Fiction.
The migration question
Her creed is based on being a mother, an Italian, a European and a Catholic. She is against abortion and single-sex marriage, reveres Popes John-Paul II and Benedict XVI and prizes respect above mere tolerance. Most intriguing are her thoughts about Italy’s population decline and immigration, and how these may, or may not, connect. She believes in going really hard on illegal migrant control — and licensing legal migration for the mutual benefit of source and destination communities.
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Whatever your political stance, this book is beguiling, and a fascinating read. We now need her account of her time as PM. I certainly don’t agree with everything in this memoir, but it is a wonderful wake-up call. Brava, Giorgia! As Robert Frost put it — you still have promises to keep, and miles to go before you sleep.
Robert Fox is defence editor at The London Standard
I Am Giorgia by Giorgia Meloni is out on August 14 (Skyhorse, £25)
