The Atreju festival — named after the boy hero of the fantasy book and film The NeverEnding Story — was conceived as a festival of debate for the youth wing of the National Alliance, the successor to a neo-fascist party started by allies of the late Benito Mussolini after the second world war.
Over time, Italian politicians from other political streams, on the right and left, also came to court potential votes at the festival.
As Meloni and her far-right Brothers of Italy, which was founded in 2012, grew more influential, the event also managed to attract some of the world’s most controversial political figures.
In 2018, Bannon told the event that the Brothers of Italy were “true disrupters” like Trump and Nigel Farage’s pro-Brexit UK Independence party. “The torch was passed to you,” he told Meloni’s party.
Meanwhile, Orbán said on his visit to Atreju in 2019 about himself and other populist politicians: “As our opponents are large, wealthy, strong and well-organised, we are forced to fight a battle which is unjustly difficult.”Meloni was the main organiser of the festival for many years. In her 2021 autobiography, she wrote that “each year we invite the most important people of the season, people we esteem, people we oppose, or the most debated people, who we are interested in better understanding”.
The current edition of the festival, being held just outside the Vatican, will have a different tone as Meloni celebrates the first year of her ruling coalition. Panels are scheduled to be packed with government ministers and local Brothers of Italy leaders.
Other guests expected to attend the four-day function that starts on Thursday include Santiago Abascal, the leader of Spain’s right-wing Vox party.
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