Secolo d'Italia

Secolo d'Italia ([ˈsɛːkolo diˈtaːlja]; "Century of Italy") is a daily online newspaper in Italy, published since 1952, formerly supporting neo-fascism. In 2012, it ceased its print edition and continued as an online-only conservative publication.

After the war in Italy ended, various, small political organizations and parties adhering to variants of an extreme-right ideology were born. On 26 December 1946, the Italian Social Movement (Movimento Sociale Italiano or MSI) was created through the merging of various such entities. The three initial main objectives of the new party were to revive Mussolini's fascism, attack the Italian democratic regime, and defend the country against communism.

From the beginning, there was inherent tension within the MSI between two tendencies: One placed anti-communism as the party's main stance and, therefore, declared itself open to or seeking alliances with all anti-communist parties and organizations, along with accepting the support of and aid from foreign sources that were similarly engaged, such as the United States and by extension NATO. Its adherents were labeled "Atlanticists" by proponents of the other tendency, which rejected any collaboration with forces, such as the Americans, which had fought against and defeated Fascist Italy. In this context, they also stood opposed to Italy's entry and participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. For these positions, they were characterized as "Leftists" within MSI. Essentially, it was a clash of priorities: between nationalism and anti-communism.

By the end of the 1940s, the MSI was characterized as "one of the largest and best organized neofascist electoral parties in Europe" as well as the eventual "pivotal party" for the re-emergence of the extreme right in Europe.

Since the beginning, there was throughout the party, and most strongly among the Evolani, "bitter hostility" towards the so-called "25 July 1943 traitors", which meant that many members stood opposed to bringing in any of the "ventennio-era Fascist hierarchs".

Secolo d'Italia was founded by Franz Turchi, World War I veteran, National Fascist Party official, and prefect of La Spezia during the time of the Italian Social Republic; its first issue appeared on 16 May 1952. At the beginning, the paper had five editors, among whom were the esotericista Aniceto Del Massa, and the poet Ezra Pound. The paper's first headquarters were in via Tomacelli 146, in Rome, the same address that some years later would also house the offices of Il Manifesto and Mondoperaio, as well as the Roman editorial staff of Corriere della Sera. The first chief editor was Bruno Spampanato, fascist author, Mussolini loyalist, and Decima Flottiglia MAS veteran. The editorial group was anti-American and opposed Italy's accession to NATO, supporting the "socialization of businesses" and rejecting the "right-wing" label. They also stood against any collaboration with Italy's monarchists or with conservative parties such as the Christian Democrats.

Junio Valerio Borghese, Mussolini loyalist, and decorated wartime veteran of the Decima, who had joined MSI in November 1952 at the invitation of its leadership, wrote the newspaper's first editorial. While Borghese's entry into MSI inspired the party's "leftist" and Evolani wings on account of his illustrious and fanatically fascist career, he immediately sided with the "Atlanticists", supporting the "unconditional adherence" to a "pro-Western" and "philo-American" foreign policy.

The MSI party had no direct involvement in the founding of Secolo d'Italia. Its leadership initially expressed concerns over the paper's appearance and dispatched Roberto Mieville, head of the party's Centro Stampa e Propaganda, to various party sections and affiliated publications to inform them that Secolo had "obscure origins and even more obscure objectives." However, by that time, the pro-Atlantic current within MSI was asserting its dominance. In July 1952, Borghese gave the introductory speech at MSI's Third Congress held at L'Aquila, denying that the party was "totalitarian" and stating that the task of all missini was to "interpret the common aspirations" of the Italian people and resolve their economic problems. On 18 August 1952, Secolo d'Italia passed directly into the hands of MSI's Giorgio Almirante and Filippo Anfuso, with Franz Turchi appointed finance manager. After Almirante resigned from the leadership position, Augusto De Marsanich, another Mussolini loyalist, was elected in his place. Almirante opposed, at the time, what he determined as "the new conservatism" in far-right politics and emphasised "the proletarian origins of fascism." More radical cadres, such as Pino Rauti, who went on to create Ordine Nuovo, left MSI for the same reasons. Four years later, in 1954, De Marsanich was replaced by Arturo Michelini, with the positions supported by Secolo closely following the shifts inside Movimento; newspaper eventually adapted Michelini's strategy of inserimento (insertion) into the mainstream that resulted in MSI becoming, by the late 1950s, Italy's 4th largest party. Secolo d'Italia, during Michelini's leadership, supported the strategy of industrialist Enrico Mattei, chairman of state-owned Agip, who died in 1962 in an airplane accident.