Gabriele Adinolfi: Architect of a European Neofascist Network

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Executive Summary

There is no doubt that the far right is on the rise globally—and especially in Europe. From Rome to Budapest and from Paris to Madrid, parties that were once on the political fringes now hold power or have come exceedingly close to doing so. This is even the case on the European level, where the far-right members of the Identity and Democracy (ID) and European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) groups gained ground in the June 2024 European Parliament elections.^[1] Yet, there is more to these electoral trends than meets the eye. Behind the eye-catching headlines and charismatic personalities lies a deeper network of far-right and neofascist actors that animates and sustains this ideological space. This transnational network extends across Europe and maintains firm links to the past—connecting today’s far right to the neofascists of the early postwar years, the New Right actors of the late twentieth century, and other right-wing extremists who have operated across the continent for three-quarters of a century. Understanding the contemporary ascendance of the far right requires carefully investigating this network and traveling through its history—as understanding the far right’s past offers the best chance of challenging it in the present and changing its future.

There is perhaps no single individual who is more deeply embedded in this transnational European far-right network than Gabriele Adinolfi (b. 1954). Beginning with his origins during the violent “Years of Lead” in Italy in the 1970s, continuing through his two decades on the run from the law across Western Europe in the 1980s and 1990s, and leading to his role rebuilding a neofascist network in Italy and around Europe since the early 2000s, Adinolfi’s path has been one of remarkable breadth and depth. While by no means the only actor to engage in transnational far-right activities, Adinolfi stands out for his longevity and continuing relevance in this multigenerational space. Therefore, his personal history and political trajectory offer a sort of guidebook to traversing this European-wide network and understanding its role as the foundation of today’s transnational European far right.

Adinolfi’s decades of activity on the Italian and European far right introduced him to an impressive assortment of individuals and organizations. Beginning with his first forays into far-right politics—as a member of Lotta di Popolo in Rome in the late 1960s and early 1970s—Adinolfi came across Enzo Maria Dantini (1940–2004), the organization’s leader who was also allegedly a member of the Gladio stay-behind network and collaborator of Aginter Press.^[2] Also crossing Adinolfi’s path during this period was the neofascist writer and publisher Franco Freda (b. 1941), who was implicated in the Piazza Fontana bombing of December 12, 1969, which killed 17 and injured 88.^[3] And not to be forgotten, Adinolfi’s brief membership in Avanguardia Nazionale (approximately 1973–75) almost likely put him in contact with the organization’s founder, Stefano Delle Chiaie (1936–2019), who participated in numerous terrorist activities linked to the Italian far right’s “strategy of tension” carried out from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.

As he turned from a follower to a leader, Adinolfi’s network expanded. In 1976, he was among the founding members of Lotta Studentesca (later renamed Terza Posizione) alongside Roberto Fiore (b. 1958), Walter Spedicato (1947–92), and Giuseppe Dmitri (1956–2006). The organization—allegedly founded in the house of Fiore’s father, who was a soldier for Mussolini’s Italian Social Republic (RSI, Repubblica Sociale Italiana) and an original member of the neofascist Italian Social Movement (MSI, Movimento Sociale Italiano)—was at the forefront of the violent battles between Black and Red forces that plagued Italy during the 1970s (as well as the intergenerational strife that divided the neofascists themselves).^[4]

His implication in the Bologna Bombings of August 2, 1980—which killed 85 and wounded more than 200—led to more than two decades on the run from judicial investigations across France, England, and Spain. During this period, he liaised with a veritable who’s who of noted neofascist and far-right figures, such as the Belgian Rexist leader and Nazi collaborator Léon Degrelle (1906–94), French Nouvelle Droite thinkers Dominique Venner (1935–2013) and Alain de Benoist (b. 1943), and the leaders of the French paramilitary Groupe Union Défense (GUD) Frédéric Chatillon (b. 1968) and Axel Loustau (b. 1971). Along the way, he made important connections with countless organizations that he maintains to this day, including the Nouvelle Droite Groupement de Recherche et d’Études pour la Civilisation Européenne (GRECE) and the Iliade Institute, GUD, the Catholic monarchist Action Française, and the schismatic traditionalist Catholic Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).

Upon returning to Italy in 2000 after the expiration of his arrest warrant, Adinolfi acted with a newfound freedom in expanding his network and founding new organizations to grow the far-right space. He was a critical player in the origins of the neofascist CasaPound (est. December 26, 2003), which he traces back to a GRECE summer camp in southern France he helped organize in the year 2000. He was also at the helm of the think tanks Centro Studi Polaris (est. 2004) and EurHope (est. 2016), as well as the Lansquenets of Europe (est. 2014), a transnational cadre of neofascist elites. This period has also witnessed his continued support for French far-right organizations training and recruiting neofascist youth, such as Academia Christiana (est. 2013) and structures emerging from the network around GUD, such as Bastion Social (2017–19) and Lyon Populaire (est. ca. 2019). Throughout his myriad activities, Adinolfi has served as a key point of connection in the European far right—creating linkages between individuals and organizations across space and over time and demonstrating the striking continuity of the far-right project from the postwar years to the present.

This report dives into Adinolfi’s more than five decades of political activity and uses this information to characterize the contours and development of the broader network of European far-right actors of which he is a member. The chapters proceed as follows:

• Chapter I explores Adinolfi’s origins in the violent neofascist environment of Italy in the 1970s, with a particular focus on his role in founding Terza Posizione and his links to prominent far-right leaders and terrorists of the period.

• Chapter II recounts the chronology of Adinolfi’s years on the run following the Bologna Bombings, examining his travels and uncovering the network of key individuals and organizations he worked with across France, England, and Spain during this period (1980–2000).

• Chapter III documents Adinolfi’s return to Italy in 2000 and the political activities that followed, specifically his role founding CasaPound and the Centro Studi Polaris, as well as his involvement with numerous other far-right groups around the country.

• Chapter IV expands the focus beyond Italy to examine how Adinolfi has used his writings and organizations to develop a transnational far-right network in Europe, with a particular focus on his current project—the Lansquenets of Europe—and his continuing links to extremist groups across the continent.

• Chapter V concludes this report by reviewing its main findings and reflecting on their significance for the trajectory of contemporary far-right politics in Italy and across Europe.

By using Adinolfi’s storyline to set the guideposts, this report documents the growth and persistence of a transnational far-right and neofascist network across Europe. This network—composed of dozens of organizations in numerous countries—represents a real and growing threat to the continent and the world; thus, identifying it is the first step to defeating it.

Chapter I: Origins

“Terza Posizione was characterized above all by its spiritual and militant intensity, and its cultural and even metaphysical research.”

—Gabriele Adinolfi and Roberto Fiore^[5]

Introduction

Over the past five decades, Adinolfi has become a central node in the transnational European far-right network. Better understanding how he has achieved the level of prominence and influence he currently holds requires first returning to his origins during the tumultuous “Years of Lead” in Italy. Doing so reveals the strikingly young age at which Adinolfi first began to engage in neofascist political activities, the numerous prominent individuals with whom he came into contact during his formative years, and the key events that changed the trajectory of his life. In other words, assessing his origins provides a clearer picture of the “training ground” from which Adinolfi emerged—which, in turn, will shed light on the development of his ideas and activities throughout his professional career.

This chapter proceeds as follows:

• The first section introduces Adinolfi’s first forays into the Italian far-right space of the 1970s, with a particular focus on the two principal organizations of which he was a member—Lotta di Popolo and Avanguardia Nazionale.

• The second section traces the founding of Terza Posizione and discusses the central role it played in advancing a new generation of neofascist actors in Italy of the 1970s.

• The third section briefly recounts the history of the Bologna Bombings and explains how Adinolfi and other members of Terza Posizione were implicated in the attack.

• The fourth section concludes the chapter by reflecting on how Adinolfi’s origins influenced his future trajectory.

First Forays into the Far Right

Adinolfi’s decades of far-right activity began on the streets of Rome in his youth. In his early teenage years (approximately 1968–71), he floated between numerous “autonomous” neofascist groupuscules that arose in his Trieste neighborhood.^[6] During this period, he was also briefly a member of the “Filippo Anfuso” section of the MSI based in Piazza Bologna (via Lavorno) and he had connections to the party’s youth group, Giovane Italia. Nevertheless, Adinolfi rejected the electoral turn being undertaken by the MSI during this period and chose not to fully join Giovane Italia. As he stated, “[I] had not had time to join Giovane Italia because when I had chosen to do so, the latter had changed its name and political direction, espousing the theses of the nascent nationalist right.”^[7]

Instead, Adinolfi found his way into several neofascist organizations that had distanced themselves from the MSI, both due to ideological and tactical disagreements. Rather than feign acceptance of multiparty democracy as the MSI did, these groups tended to explicitly reject elections, parliamentarism, and the trappings of the postwar Italian political system. Likewise, as opposed to the MSI’s prioritization of electoral competition and working within the political institutions of the state, these organizations preferred direct action as embodied in the “strategy of tension,” believing that a heightened sense of public fear—triggered by terrorist attacks and general disorder in the streets—would push the public to embrace the neofascist right as the only force capable of restoring security and order.^[8] While a plethora of such organizations roamed the streets of Rome and other major Italian cities during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the two most central to Adinolfi’s history are Lotta di Popolo and Avanguardia Nazionale.

Lotta di Popolo

Lotta di Popolo was founded on May 1, 1969, in Rome by former members of several prominent neofascist youth organizations, including Enzo Maria Dantini and Ugo Gaudenzi of Primula Goliardica^[9] and Serafino Di Luia of Avanguardia Nazionale. The new organization also boasted several prominent figures who helped craft its manifesto, including Stefano Delle Chiaie (1936–2019), Paolo Signorelli (1934–2010), Fabio De Felice (1927–2024), and Clemente Graziani (1925–96). Adinolfi himself was a member of Lotta di Popolo’s Student Front from 1972–73 and remained a full member of the organization until its dissolution in 1974.

Lotta di Popolo is often regarded as among the first Nazi-Maoist organizations to gain traction in the far-right environment. While advocates of this ideology often presented it as “neither left nor right” in the style of Third Positionism,^[10] Nazi-Maoism is a firmly far-right phenomenon that combines the ideas of Nazism with the mass violence and upheaval associated with Maoism. This becomes clear when exploring the activities of Nazi-Maoist organizations such as Lotta di Popolo, which were notorious for instigating street clashes with left-wing youth organizations and turning university campuses into battlefields.

Adinolfi’s time as a member of Lotta di Popolo would have put him into contact with a range of key figures on the Italian neofascist right, including numerous terrorists. A concise list of only the most notable characters would include:

• Enzo Maria Dantini: As previously mentioned, Dantini was among the founders of the Nazi-Maoist groups Primula Goliardica and Lotta di Popolo; given Adinolfi’s membership in the latter, it is almost certain that they came into contact with one another. Dantini was allegedly a member of the stay-behind network Gladio, a paramilitary operation organized by NATO and the CIA after World War II to combat communist and left-wing forces in Europe.^[11] Furthermore, Dantini was allegedly a member of Aginter Press, a subversive fascist organization founded by Yves Guerin-Serac in Lisbon in 1966. Aginter Press had many links to Italian neofascist organizations—including Ordine Nuovo and Avanguardia Nazionale—and regularly offered trainings to Italian operatives. In fact, Dantini has been identified as the supervisor of an Aginter course on bomb making offered in Rome in 1967.^[12] Furthermore, Dantini served as an expert witness on explosives for Franco Freda during the trial relating to Freda’s involvement in the 1969 Piazza Fontana Bombing. Thus, for Adinolfi, Dantini represented a point of contact with a wider network of subversive, paramilitary organizations.

“I did not know [Clemente] physically, but I had a relationship with him through letter writing. Sometimes we even talked on the telephone. Featured prominently among the ‘diplomas’ in my apartment was the Paraguayan machete he had gifted me. I met his son, Rainaldo, [in 1985] around the time I founded the study center Orientamenti & Ricerca with Walter Spedicato…”^[17]

• Walter Spedicato: Spedicato was among the first members of Lotta di Popolo following its founding in 1969, making it highly likely this is where he and Adinolfi first met. During this period, Spedicato also managed the Libreria Romana, a popular neofascist bookstore in Rome through which he came into contact with a large number of influential thinkers, including Franco Freda. His relationship with Freda was astonishingly close—during the 1960s and 1970s, Spedicato worked as a deliveryman for Freda’s publishing house, Edizioni di Ar. They maintained correspondence for decades, even after Freda’s imprisonment and Spedicato’s flight from Italy. In fact, Spedicato was allegedly asked to be the best man when Freda married his wife Rita in the Novara maximum security prison (but he was unable to do so when he was denied the waiver needed to enter the prison).^[18] Spedicato’s links to Freda also flowed over to Adinolfi and the other youth around him. As Adinolfi wrote:

“The Editor [Freda] showed himself to be constantly paternal, in the ancient Roman sense of the term, so that, in addition to prodding us and pointing out any potential gap he could see, he was the only member of the generation that preceded us to warn us about the risks we persisted in taking.”^[19]

Without a doubt, Adinolfi’s time as a member of Lotta di Popolo allowed him to develop crucial bonds to numerous prominent thinkers and leaders of the Italian neofascist right—with each link opening up an exponentially increasing number of additional connections. These links were crucial to his political development—and several would persist for decades as he continued to expand his network in Italy and around Europe.

Avanguardia Nazionale

Avanguardia Nazionale’s activities were heavily focused on instigating street fights with left-wing youth organizations, especially in large cities and around university campuses. After several years, the group came under pressure from the authorities and in 1965 temporarily disbanded. Yet, the cadres of paramilitary activists around Delle Chiaie remained active—many joined alternative organizations, such as the National Action University Front (FUAN, Fronte Universitario d’Azione Nazionale), Ordine Nuovo, and Primula Goliardica; furthermore, Avanguardia Nazionale members, including Delle Chiaie himself, participated in the infamous Battle of Valle Giulia in 1968.

The organization formally reconstituted itself in 1970 under the leadership of Adriano Tilgher (b. 1947), as by this point Delle Chiaie had sought refuge in Franco’s Spain. It was during the era of Tilgher’s leadership that Adinolfi was a member, from approximately 1973 to 1975. During this period, the organization was known for its audacious attacks against not only left-wing student groups, but also representatives of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and Italian Socialist Party (PSI). In 1976, a year after Adinolfi had left the group, Avanguardia Nazionale was dissolved by the government and its leaders, including Tilgher, were arrested.

Terza Posizione

The organization began as a ragtag affair—it had no headquarters and published a newsletter written by Adinolfi on the typewriter in his parents’ home. Yet it did not lack for guidance and inspiration—in addition to the aforementioned support granted by Freda (and likely others in the group’s wider network), the founders of Lotta Studentesca were mentored by Amedeo Fiore, Roberto’s father, who himself had fought for the RSI in the final years of World War II and was present for the founding of MSI. As Adinolfi described the situation:

“…the meetings of the Roman leadership [of Lotta Studentesca] usually met in the Fiore house. There, for those who had known him, the absence of the father Amedeo was palpably felt, as he had died in June 1976 from a heart attack. That combative lawyer was not only one of the founders of the MSI, and before that a soldier for the RSI, but at the end of the war he had offered himself as a volunteer for the project, nourished but never realized, for Italian kamikaze.”^[20]

In 1978, the organization changed its name to Terza Posizione and more fully elaborated its ideology. Its slogan, “Neither Red Front nor Reaction,” suggested opposition to both Soviet communism and American capitalism—but the group was firmly rooted in fascism and particularly the thought of Julius Evola. They also took inspiration from Corneliu Codreanu (1899–1938), the founder of the Romanian Iron Guard—for example, each subdivision of the group was called a “cuib,” from the Romanian word for “nest” used by Codreanu’s paramilitary forces. Logistically, Dimitri served as the organizational leader, while Adinolfi and Fiore were its chief ideologues—but the three were inseparable. As Adinolfi stated, “The three represented a tripartite structure that was the axis and heart of a unique experience.”^[21]

Terza Posizione had a particularly confrontational relationship with the MSI’s Youth Front, then under the leadership of Gianfranco Fini (b. 1952), which it regarded as betraying the fascist cause. However, the group maintained better working relationships with other neofascist organizations in Rome, notably FUAN and the Revolutionary Armed Nuclei (NAR, Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari). Founded in 1977, NAR eventually came to function as the paramilitary branch of Terza Posizione—while formally separate, their membership overlapped to a large extent and they cooperated extensively in the late 1970s. However, internal divisions eventually led to great animosity between the groups, which contributed to the arrest of many leaders and both groups’ dissolution in the early 1980s.

Bologna Bombings

A turning point in the history of Terza Posizione came on August 2, 1980. At approximately 10:25 a.m., a bomb planted in a suitcase exploded in the crowded hall of the Bologna train station. The resulting blast caused the roof of the building to collapse and led to the deaths of 85 people and injured more than 200. Within days, Prime Minister Francesco Cossiga publicly suggested that the attack was carried out by neofascist forces, and soon it was pinned on the NAR. On August 26, 1980, 28 arrest warrants for members of NAR and Terza Posizione were issued, including for Adinolfi himself.

Conclusion

Adinolfi’s decade of activity in the Italian neofascist environment of the 1970s played a crucial role in his development. Beyond his experiences engaging in violent street confrontations and writing ideological treatises for his magazines, this period was most influential for the wide network of organizations and individuals with whom he associated. These connections—some tight and others seemingly shallow—would persist throughout Adinolfi’s career and would form the foundation for the next chapter in his political trajectory—life on the run.

Chapter II: On the Run

“More than three decades, including twenty years of clandestine odyssey, have passed since my journey through the Alps—but my feeling has not changed.”

—Gabriele Adinolfi^[22]

Introduction

As a wanted man following the Bologna Bombings, Adinolfi fled Italy and began what would become almost two decades on the run. Far from impeding his political activities, the impetus to go abroad further fueled his neofascist activism. Across France, England, and Spain, Adinolfi expanded his network to encompass a large and varied cast of characters from various segments of the far-right and neofascist space, including Nazi collaborationist Léon Degrelle, Nouvelle Droite thinkers Dominique Venner and Alain de Benoist, paramilitary GUD activists Frédéric Chatillon and Axel Loustau, and traditionalist Catholic communities around Action Française and the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). Further exploring these travels and linkages adds clarity to this formative period in Adinolfi’s life—and its importance as a time during which he further developed the relationships and ideas that continue to animate his activity today.

This chapter proceeds as follows:

• The first section provides a detailed chronology of Adinolfi’s years on the run.

• The second section extracts several key figures who crossed Adinolfi’s path during this time as a fugitive, providing more detailed accounts of their backgrounds and importance.

• The third section concludes by reflecting on the significance of this period on Adinolfi’s overall political trajectory.

Chronology of Adinolfi’s Years on the Run

Adinolfi spent approximately 20 years on the run from the authorities, beginning after the issuance of his arrest warrant on August 26, 1980, and continuing until its expiration in March 2000.^[23] These years were crucial in the development of his transnational network—and led to the development of connections with myriad far-right individuals and organizations that persist up to the present day.

Flight to France, 1980

Following the issuance of arrest warrants for 28 members of Terza Posizione and NAR on August 26, 1980, 22 were quickly captured—the remaining six went on the run: Adinolfi, Fiore, Spedicato, Marcello De Angelis, Andrea Insabato, and Donatella Bianchi. Fleeing Rome, they briefly found refuge in the Mario Monte neighborhood in the northwestern corner of the city before continuing on. They would spend more than two months constantly on the move; Adinolfi would later write that they often traveled by overnight trains to evade detection and to avoid staying too long in any one place. Yet this tactic was not always successful, as Adinolfi reported having his false papers stolen while traveling overnight between San Remo and Milan in October 1980.

While it is impossible to completely recount the fugitives’ whereabouts for the entirety of their two-month journey to France, enough is known to offer a broad reconstruction. In September and October 1980, the group moved about in northwestern Italy, particularly around the city of Imperia (Liguria), where Bianchi’s husband had rented an apartment. Adinolfi reported being in Imperia on October 14, 1980, the day after a police dragnet caught dozens of Roman Red Brigades who had been hiding in the city. This heightened police activity spurred them to move on to Verona and other towns in north-central Italy for a week or two until the danger died down.

In early November 1980, the fugitives traveled to the region of Alto Adige in northern Italy near the Austrian border. There, an unnamed business owner offered them refuge and arranged for their escape to France hidden in the back of one of his trucks. The first to make the escape were Fiore, Spedicato, De Angelis, and Insabato—Bianchi was pregnant at the time and chose to remain in Italy to deliver her baby. Yet, when it came time for Adinolfi to be transported across the border, the driver got cold feet. Adinolfi described the situation as follows:

“The four others had indeed benefitted from the help of a business owner in Alto Adige who had taken them to France hidden in one of his trucks. But when my turn came, the driver faltered and refused to load me. This democratic worker had ingested his dose of the ‘wage of fear.’ There was no question of asking him to become a combatant.”^[24]

With no other options, Adinolfi proceeded to Turin, where he made alternative plans for his escape. In mid-November 1980, he walked over the Italian-French border via an unguarded, mountainous pass in the Alps and arrived in the French town of Briançon. From there, he took a train to Lyon and then journeyed on to Paris, via an overnight train that departed Lyon at 8 p.m. on November 23 and arrived in Paris at 6 a.m. on November 24.

Given the need to communicate surreptitiously so as to avoid detection by the authorities, Adinolfi and his accomplices had agreed that they would wait for each other every day around noon under the Charlemagne statue in front of Notre Dame Cathedral. The morning of his arrival, Adinolfi got lost on the Paris metro and missed his rendezvous time. He spent the day wandering the city and booked two nights in a hostel near Luxembourg Gardens (where he recalled using the name and address of his best friend from elementary school to make the reservation). Although he had brought two sets of false identity documents with him, he reported not needing them.

The following day, November 25, Adinolfi successfully made contact with his associates. After arriving at their apartment, he learned that they had spent almost all of the money they had saved for their escape—and had also been unable to find work in Paris. The group then decided to leave Paris for London, believing their political and economic situation would improve there. As Adinolfi wrote, “It was then decided to attempt expatriation to England, where legal guarantees [we]re more solid…it was possible to work and no documents [we]re needed to rent a house.”^[25]

However, before departing, Dominique Venner (who Adinolfi later described simply as “Dominique, a friend from GRECE”), encouraged them to consider remaining in France—and offered to temporarily house the group in his vacation apartment in the small coastal town of Saint-Goustan in Brittany. Venner himself drove the fugitives to the town, departing Paris around midnight on either November 25 or 26. Yet, upon their arrival they immediately became concerned that they would be noticed, as there were no tourists visiting the seaside at this time of year. They concocted a backstory to explain their presence, planning to tell curious locals that they were university professors’ assistants on vacation before the start of the winter term (slated to begin on December 5 that year). However, the risk appeared too great and they stayed only one night, with Venner driving them back to Paris the following day (interestingly, Adinolfi claims this was the last time he saw Venner in person).

Upon their return to Paris, Adinolfi, Fiore, and their associates were assisted by Yves Bruno, a far-right bookseller with a bookstore in Paris and a street stall in the square in front of Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet Church (which Adinolfi would later report attending during his years living in Paris). Bruno provided the group an apartment in the suburbs near Versailles beginning in December 1980, from which Adinolfi and his accomplices were able to plot the next stage in their journey—seeking refuge in England.

Stint in England, 1981

Adinolfi arrived in Dover, England, via a ferry from Calais, in mid-February 1981. He was cleared by British customs (despite using false identity papers) and was granted a six-month visa. He settled in London, where he was joined by his fellow fugitives: Fiore, Spedicato, De Angelis, and Insabato. He found work as a busboy at a New Zealand-themed pub and a strip-club called The Longfellow near Covent Garden. During his time in England, several more fugitives arrived from Italy, including Massimo Morsello (1958–2001). At one point, Adinolfi reported hosting 11 people in his small apartment. At the end of his six-month visa in August 1981, Adinolfi returned to Paris along with Spedicato.

Several other members of the group—namely Fiore and Morsello—would stay in London more-or-less permanently from this point forward. There is strong evidence to suggest that their ability to find safe haven in the UK for almost two decades was due to their cooperation with the UK’s intelligence services, MI6.[26] Despite repeated extradition requests, the UK government refused to return Fiore to Italy. Furthermore, a report issued by the European Parliament in 1991 suggested that Fiore in particular had been recruited as an intelligence source for MI6. In fact, in 2018 Fiore admitted to being approached by Italian and British secret service agents but he insists he rejected their offers. Despite there allegedly being no relationship to speak of, recent attempts to use freedom of information laws to acquire British government documents on Fiore and other Italian fugitives have been repeatedly denied, due to the information’s potential to “undermine national security.”[27]

Yet several relevant documents have been released in connection to the recent trial of Gilberto Cavallini (b. 1952), who in 2020 was convicted of complicity in the Bologna Bombing and sentenced to life in prison (his conviction was upheld upon appeal in 2023).[28] Dossiers compiled by Interpol in the 1980s and shared with the British and Italian governments at the time confirm that Cavallini had lived with Fiore in an apartment on Tabor Road in London—the records date from 1984, but suggest evidence that the pair had lived together dating back to April 1981.[29] This evidence contradicts Fiore’s repeated denials of links to Cavallini—and also lays bare the fact that a sizeable cohort of dangerous Italian terrorists were permitted to live in the UK for years without interference.

Return to Italy, 1982

Upon returning to France, Adinolfi and Spedicato found themselves quickly engulfed in the drama that was continuing to wreak havoc on the Italian neofascist right they had abandoned a year earlier. Following the initial wave of arrests in August and September 1980, Terza Posizione had come under intense scrutiny from the Italian authorities. This pressure—and the difficulty of maintaining order while its leaders were either imprisoned or on the run—led to increasing strife and even violent confrontation within the organization. This was particularly true regarding its relationship with NAR, which had long operated as the organization’s paramilitary branch but had now become an antagonistic force—with members choosing one side or the other. Furthermore, the rise of new leadership failed to quell the chaos—and likely further inflamed it. As Adinolfi wrote:

“New characters would emerge who would enlarge their prerogatives beyond what had been stipulated…their contribution would also lead to sinister ideological correctives that would appear to be specifically designed to lead the Movement to total isolation…”^[30]

In an attempt to resolve the disarray, Adinolfi and Spedicato planned a daring return to Italy. On April 30, 1982, they skied over a remote Alpine pass between France and Italy (likely the same route taken by Adinolfi during his original escape in November 1980). Upon their arrival in Italy, Adinolfi and Spedicato met with the new Terza Posizione leader, Enrico Tomaselli, to ease tensions within the group and with NAR. Their efforts succeeded in dampening the unrest, but they failed in their mission to reinvigorate the organization (including a planned mission to free NAR prisoners that was abandoned due to fears of police informants in their midst). Believing the reconstitution of the organization to be unfeasible—especially given their need to leave Italy as soon as possible—Adinolfi and Spedicato convened a gathering of Terza Posizione members in the coastal town of Lignano Sabbiadoro (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) on September 23, 1982, where they officially dissolved the movement. Adinolfi later explained the decision thus:

“What needed to be done was done; preserving it would have been diabolical. Terza Posizione must not fade away, it must come to a close in beauty. At the end of September 1982, in a plenary meeting with all the still active or recently active cadres present, the historical experience of Terza Posizione was thus declared concluded. Let the wind take the seed.”^[31]

Following the dissolution of Terza Posizione, Adinolfi and Spedicato returned to France on October 17, 1982, via the same Alpine route they previously used.

Settled in Spain, 1982–84

After once again fleeing Italy, Adinolfi and Spedicato traveled to Madrid in October 1982. While there, they met with Léon Degrelle (1906–94), the leader of the Belgian Rexist party and Nazi collaborator who led the Walloon Legion, which served as the Belgian division of the Waffen-SS during World War II. Adinolfi stated this was one of several meetings with Degrelle he would participate in during the mid-1980s—yet his recollections of this first encounter are the most detailed. He specifically recounted Degrelle’s advice to him as follows:

“The principal enemy is the one against whom we have not directly fought. It is the United States, with their monstrous system. You will see that the chance for Europe will come from Russia, preserved in its elementary and barbaric level by communism which, despite itself, will be the incubator of our revenge.”^[32]

While the exact timeline of this period is unclear, it appears that by March 1983 Adinolfi and Spedicato had moved to Madrid—where they would stay until returning to Paris in September 1984. Compared to the discussion of his time in France, Adinolfi’s writings are relatively mum on this time in Spain. What is known is that this was a period of intense research and writing for Adinolfi—he recalls spending most of his time in the library, where he would pass himself off as a university researcher. One of the various subjects that caught his attention during this period was European legitimism and the various competing claims to the thrones of the continent (including those in Italy and France that had long been abolished). In fact, he recalled maintaining correspondence with the then-imprisoned Franco Freda and sending him his research on this topic.^[33]

While in Madrid, Adinolfi easily fell in with Francoist circles; he recalled frequenting a fascist bar called Tovaric whose walls were covered with photos of the Blue Division on the Eastern Front. This gathering place introduced Adinolfi to the fascist underground in the city, who regularly reminisced about their battles and spontaneously broke into song, performing fascist hymns together such as Cara al Sol.

Adinolfi and Spedicato left Madrid and resettled in Paris in September 1984.

Return to France, 1984–92

From the mid-1980s until the early 1990s, Adinolfi lived mainly in Paris, but took regular trips to London to meet with associates, as well as summer trips to the Austrian Alps (specifically, the region of Tyrol) with his wife and son, Carlomanno (b. July 1982).

In 1985, Adinolfi and Spedicato founded the Centro Studi Orientamenti & Ricerca, a think tank to organize and publicize their research and writings. The organization published a variety of political documents that promoted the idea of a cultural fascist revolution, with a strong foundation in the writings of Julius Evola and Pino Rauti. In fact, the organization’s name intentionally echoes Evola’s “Orientamenti,” published in 1950 in the journal Imperium that was edited by Rauti. In his writings, Adinolfi indicates that the Centro Studi Orientamenti & Ricerca regularly interacted with other far-right and neofascist groups in Paris (although he does not name them).

It was during this period that Adinolfi first met longtime associate René de Says (nicknamed “Néné”) (1952–2012). De Says joined the militant group Restauration Nationale (est. 1955) in 1964; the group was linked to Action Française and was known for its support of the Organisation de l’Armée Secrète (OAS) during the war over French Algeria.^[34] In approximately 1970 De Says joined the French army, serving in the 9th Parachute Chasseur Regiment and then in the 6th Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment. During this period, he was also known to have been recruited by Bob Denard (1929–2007) to fight as a mercenary in Angola, in an operation backed by the CIA. Continuing his militancy, he served as a foreign volunteer in the Lebanese Phalanges in 1976. Nevertheless, De Says is best known today for having assassinated two left-wing activists in France in 1978–79. As a member of the extreme-right paramilitary group Honneur de la Police (est. ca. 1979)—he murdered anti-colonial activist Henri Curiel (1914–78) on May 4, 1978, and left-wing activist Pierre Goldman (1944–79) on September 20, 1979. By the time Adinolfi first encountered De Says in late 1984, he was a member of Action Française—where he would continue his political activity until his death in 2012.

Further developing his links to the paramilitary right in France, Adinolfi also made overtures to GUD during this period. He wrote of having two main contacts with the group at the time, two men named “Fabrice.”^[35] Adinolfi’s links to GUD intensified in the 1990s when he came into contact with then-leaders Frédéric Chatillon and Axel Loustau.

While based primarily in Paris during the 1980s, Adinolfi also made trips to London to visit his associates there. He recalled one trip in June 1986 during which he met with Fiore, Morsello, and Mario Corsi (b. 1958). It was during this visit that Adinolfi worked with Fiore and Morsello to devise a plan to create a business to earn money to support the fugitives. Later that year, Fiore and Morsello would launch “Meeting Point,” a firm to generate job leads and lodging for foreign students and workers in London (it was later renamed “Easy London”). The business was successful and generated profits to support the fugitive network in England and France.

By the early 1990s, Adinolfi had settled into a comfortable life of research, writing, and travel that belied the fact he was still a fugitive on the run. Yet, all such things must come to an end—and soon a turn of events would remind him of the precariousness of the life he was living.

Arrest and Return to Italy, 1992–93

By the early 1990s, Adinolfi had developed what appeared to be a relatively secure and comfortable life as a fugitive. Yet, his past caught up with him during a vacation to the mountainous village of Söll, Austria, in 1992 with his wife, mother, and ten-year-old son. At approximately 5 p.m. on July 17, 1992, Adinolfi was arrested by Austrian police, who told him they had been alerted to his presence by the Italian authorities. He was taken to Innsbruck prison, about 80 kilometers away, where he was detained for more than three months. He was first tried in Austria on the charges of carrying false identity documents (under the name “Ricardo Paladino”). He pled guilty and was sentenced to a 500 Franc suspended fine. He later wrote that the lenience he received was due to the fact that the judge was sympathetic to his fascist activities, which he had communicated to the court during pre-trial conversations.

The Austrian prosecutor’s office then moved to have Adinolfi extradited to Italy to face charges there in connection with the Bologna Bombings. However, a panel of magistrate judges rejected the extradition request, stating that they believed Adinolfi was being targeted for his political opinions. Upon further consideration, the Austrian Federal Minister of Justice partially overturned the lower court’s decision—Adinolfi was to be returned to Italy but only to face charges on an alleged robbery (not the terrorism charges for which he was most wanted).

Adinolfi was returned to Italian custody in the border town of Brenner (South Tyrol) on October 28, 1992 (in his memoirs, he notes that this date was the seventieth anniversary of Mussolini’s March on Rome). He was then sent to Rome’s Rebibbia Prison to await trial. He was subsequently acquitted of the robbery charge on January 25, 1993, and released the following day. As the authorities could not bring him to trial on the other charges he faced, he was given a passport and told to leave the country within 45 days. On March 11, 1993, Adinolfi left Italy and arrived in Nice—a few days later, he took the train back to Paris.

Final Years on the Run, 1993–2000

Following his return from Italy, Adinolfi felt able to act with a bit more freedom than he had during the first 13 years of his life on the run. He reported traveling more frequently and attending more public events. For example, Adinolfi attended GUD’s 25th anniversary celebration in 1993 (also attended by Marcello De Angelis), where he first met Chatillon and Loustau.[36] Likewise, he recalled regularly attending Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet Church in Paris, which was run by the schismatic traditionalist group, the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).

Perhaps most importantly for his future trajectory, during this time Adinolfi began to more openly associate with GRECE. In particular, beginning in 1997 he began attending the GRECE summer university “Domus” in Aix-en-Provence. During his last three years in France (1997–99), he reported meeting numerous important figures at these gatherings, including: GRECE leader Jean-Claude Jacquard (1942–2013), who was among the original members of the Fédération des Étudiants Nationalistes (FEN) in the 1960s and wrote for Europe-Action during the same period (edited by Jean Mabire [1927–2006]); Maurice Rollet (1933–2014), who was a member of Jeune Nation, co-founded GRECE (est. 1968) and became its first president, and later co-founded the pagan scouting organization Europe-Jeunesse (est. 1973) alongside Mabire and Jean-Claude Valle (1944–2010); and Horst Mahler (b. 1936), who was a founding member of the Red Army Faction (est. 1970), was a member of the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD), and has been convicted multiple times for Holocaust denial and incitement to hatred.

Thus, far from causing paralysis or inactivity, Adinolfi’s two decades as a fugitive seemed to have only hardened his convictions and pushed him to expand his network in ways that would be professionally beneficial throughout his career and continuing until the present.

Key Connections

Adinolfi’s two decades on the run put him into contact with an array of important and influential figures in the European far right. While the previous section presented his life as a fugitive in chronological order, several groups of individuals merit additional focus—both for their influence on him and their lasting presence within the broader network he has constructed around Europe. These four key “connections” are: Nazi collaborationists, GRECE, GUD, and traditionalist Catholic groups.

Nazi Collaborationist Connection

Léon Degrelle (right) meeting with Heinrich Himmler (center) and Herbert-Otto Gille (left) at Hitler’s Rastenburg headquarters on February 20, 1944. Source: Verlain, Théo. 2005. La Legion Wallonie en photos et documents. Editions de Krijger.

Degrelle’s clear Nazi pedigree and notoriety underline the ramifications of his meetings with Adinolfi. The fact that Adinolfi sought out such a figure serves to remove any lingering doubts about his hardcore, fascist agenda—and the continuity linking the project undertaken by the fascists and Nazis of the prewar era and the neofascist actors of the postwar period.

Furthermore, the mere fact that Adinolfi was granted an audience with Degrelle is striking—as someone of his stature certainly did not meet with unknown individuals who had not been carefully vetted. Adinolfi neglects to explain how he first made contact with Degrelle but there are several plausible explanations. As discussed in Chapter I, Adinolfi’s membership in Lotto di Popolo and Avanguardia Nazionale may have resulted in his crossing paths with Stefano Delle Chiaie, who operated in Spain during much of the 1970s and may very well have been a point of connection linking Adinolfi to the neofascist network in the country. Similar connections might also have arisen through any number of individuals with whom Adinolfi collaborated during the “Years of Lead” in Italy. For example, Enzo Maria Dantini allegedly collaborated with Gladio and the Portugal-based Aginter Press. Likewise, Franco Freda, who had served as an intellectual godfather to Adinolfi and the founders of Terza Posizione during the 1970s, published Degrelle’s writings via his Edizioni di Ar—in fact, the original connection between Freda and Adinolfi arose via this publishing house, as Spedicato worked as its deliveryman and also tended a Roman far-right bookstore that carried Freda’s works. Importantly, these possibilities are not mutually exclusive; in fact, Adinolfi’s multiple linkages with actors around Degrelle may well have burnished his neofascist credentials and convinced the Belgian Nazi that he was trustworthy and deserving of attention.

GRECE Connection

Before co-founding GRECE in 1968, Venner had joined Jeune Nation in 1956 and fought in French Algeria as a member of OAS in the early 1960s. After serving 18 months in prison for his OAS activities, he co-created Europe-Action with Jean Mabire and the younger Alain De Benoist in 1963, which brought together former members of OAS, FEN, and other extreme right organizations. For his part, de Benoist had entered the neofascist space in the 1950s, when as a high school student he wrote pieces in defense of French Algeria and later wrote for Henry Coston’s (1910–2001) far-right magazine Lectures Françaises. In 1961, he joined FEN while a student at the University of Paris. His membership in FEN eventually led to his connection with Venner, whom he joined in the founding of Europe-Action, and the path that led both men to GRECE by the end of the decade.

GRECE is of central importance to Adinolfi’s transnational network—not only did he regularly attend the group’s summer universities (and likely other events) during 1990s, but he was welcomed and housed by one of the organization’s core leaders—Venner—immediately after fleeing to France in November 1980. This suggests that his links to GRECE must extend back to the 1970s when he was active in the Italian neofascist space. Furthermore, as Chapter III will discuss in greater detail, GRECE played a formative role in Adinolfi’s (re)construction of the Italian neofascist network upon his return to Italy in 2000—specifically by catalyzing the establishment of CasaPound.

GUD Connection

Adinolfi’s GUD contacts in the 1980s were apparently shallow—he refers only briefly to them in his writings and, as mentioned above, obliquely references two men named “Fabrice.”

However, his long-lasting connections evolved in the 1990s, during the period in which Chatillon and Loustau helmed the organization. According to Adinolfi, he had positive relationships with both men, but primarily communicated with Loustau. Their connections must have been deep—in 2014, in a reverse direction from Adinolfi’s earlier flight, Chatillon fled a criminal investigation in France for Italy and was welcomed by Adinolfi’s CasaPound (see Chapter III for more details). Furthermore, Adinolfi’s “GUD connection” extends to his mentorship of several far-right French organizations that developed as splinters following the temporary closure of GUD in the 2010s—namely, Bastion Social and Lyon Populaire (see Chapter IV for more details).

Traditionalist Catholic Connection

While living in France, Adinolfi also developed noteworthy links to the traditionalist Catholic right. One of the first indications of this connection came from his friendship with Réné de Says, who was a French Catholic royalist and longtime member of Action Française. Action Française was founded in 1899 as a counter-revolutionary, Catholic social organization. It promoted an anti-democratic, corporatist, and integralist agenda that rejected the secularizing and democratizing trends arising in France in the early twentieth century. The organization participated in the infamous coup attempt against the French Parliament on February 6, 1934, and later actively collaborated with the Vichy regime under Philippe Pétain. Following the end of World War II, Action Française was briefly dissolved and then reestablished—throughout the remainder of the twentieth century it retained its core royalist and counter-revolutionary profile, advocating for an end to parliamentary democracy, a return to monarchy, and a religiously-infused public policy.

Conclusion

From 1980 to 2000, Adinolfi lived a life on the run. Yet, this time as a fugitive seems to have helped rather than hindered his effort to develop a sprawling network of friends and associates to sustain and grow his neofascist activities. Based largely in France and with regular trips to England and Spain, Adinolfi spent these twenty years researching, writing, and building connections with a considerable slate of far-right and neofascist figures, including Nazi collaborationists, the French Nouvelle Droite ideologues of GRECE, the extreme-right paramilitary activists of GUD, and the traditionalist Catholic circles surrounding Action Française and SSPX. These links would serve him well once his time in exile ended and he returned to Italy, where he would once again set out to expand his neofascist network.

Chapter III: (Re)Building the Italian Neofascist Network

“This success is based on just one sole postulate: to take action, you need enterprising activists. That is to say, those capable of self-sacrifice, of will, of discipline, and of patience…This is the secret of CasaPound.”

—Gabriele Adinolfi^[41]

Introduction

After returning to Italy in March 2000, Adinolfi quickly set about reintegrating himself into the Italian far-right and neofascist political environment. Rather than reengaging in the street battles of his youth, his efforts now turned to writing, speaking, and organizing a new generation of neofascist activists. This work would transform the Italian neofascist space, most importantly by catalyzing the establishment of CasaPound. He also forged bonds with a myriad of venues to present his ideas, including his own think tank—Centro Studi Polaris—and a range of pre-existing neofascist organizations spread across Italy. Through speaking events, conferences, and other collaborative projects, Adinolfi became a central node connecting many of the most significant and influential neofascist actors in twenty-first century Italy.

This chapter proceeds as follows:

• The first section elaborates on the foundation of CasaPound, Adinolfi’s key role in its formation, and its lasting impact on Italian neofascist politics.

• The second section discusses the establishment and activities of Adinolfi’s think tank, the Centro Studi Polaris.

• The third section briefly identifies several additional neofascist organizations spread around Italy with which Adinolfi developed close ties during this period.

• The fourth section summarizes the structure of Adinolfi’s twenty-first-century Italian neofascist network and foreshadows how it would serve as a basis for similar efforts on the European level.

CasaPound

Perhaps the most important and lasting organization established through Adinolfi’s efforts is the neofascist social movement CasaPound. CasaPound was named for the American fascist and poet Ezra Pound who during World War II carried out pro-Mussolini propaganda in Rome. CasaPound’s origins are quite dramatic—on December 26, 2003, a cadre of neofascist youth occupied a building in Rome owned by the Ministry of Education (no. 8 via Napoleone III).^[42] While this was not the only far-right occupation to arise in Rome at the time, CasaPound would become the largest and most influential far-right social center—both in the city and across Italy.

First, according to the calendar of speaking events recorded on Adinolfi’s website, he attended the inauguration of CasaPound on December 27, 2003, “along with about 100 people.”^[44] Likewise, he reports in his writings that, on December 27, “Gianluca [Iannone] warned me that they expected to be evacuated. I joined him.”^[45]

Second, Adinolfi’s writings further suggest that his son, Carlomanno, was likely among the initial cadre that occupied the building on December 26, 2003. As he wrote:

“On the morning of December 26, [our son] informed us that we should not wait for him for dinner and that he would be sleeping elsewhere that night. I didn’t worry about it, as he was almost 23 years old. However, the next morning I learned that the occupants of a barricade had taken over a building in the neighborhood near Termini station…the new occupants had immediately dedicated it to Ezra Pound, the great American poet and economist, who was an unconditional supporter of Mussolini and fascism…”^[46]

Third, and perhaps most importantly, Adinolfi claims credit for training the eventual founders of CasaPound during a summer university organized in conjunction with GRECE in Aix-en-Provence in 2000. This “Transversal Summer University” would be held annually between 2000 and 2006—and at its first iteration, Adinolfi brought along a cohort of 12 Italian youth and planned the idea for CasaPound. As he described this experience, “It was from this nucleus that CasaPound would be born a few years later. Among the faithful [present at the summer university] was Gianluca Iannone, its future president.”^[47] Thus, even if not formally its “founder,” Adinolfi appears to be a principal mastermind behind CasaPound.

Furthermore, Adinolfi was a constant presence at the organization in the months and years following its founding. In 2004 alone, Adinolfi gave at least 13 lectures at CasaPound, and during the following five years (2005–09) he delivered at least three dozen more.^[48] Furthermore, Adinolfi appears to have been a member of the coordinating committee behind CasaPound’s central political initiative at the time—Mutuo Sociale (Social Mortgage)—which proposed that the government invest in public housing and mortgage it to families at no interest, and crucially, without the participation of private banks.^[49] According to his calendar of speaking appearances, Adinolfi delivered a lecture entitled “The Social Mortgage” on October 20, 2005, at Sala Lucchi in Verona. He then participated in a meeting of the coordinating committee on November 20, 2005, at Asso di Bastoni in Turin (also participating were Roberto Ravello of Alleanza Nazionale and Massimo Massimino of Forza Nuova). His agenda for 2006 also mentions his participation in the meetings of the Mutuo Sociale regional coordinating committees in Lazio, Sardinia, and Lombardy.

Adinolfi’s close ties to CasaPound also help explain the link that later emerged between the organization and French far-right financier and media guru, Frédéric Chatillon. As noted in Chapter II, Adinolfi was acquainted with Chatillon in the 1990s, while the former lived in Paris and the latter was the leader of GUD. In 2014, Chatillon fled France and settled in Rome after his political communications firm, Riwal, was dissolved following a conviction for financial improprieties relating to activities undertaken in support of Marine Le Pen’s 2012 presidential campaign.^[50] Following his arrival in Rome, Chatillon has been regularly spotted at the Osteria Angelino, a restaurant owned by CasaPound leader Iannone, as well as events organized by the far-right clothing brand Pivert, owned by CasaPound member Francesco Polacchi. It is quite likely that Adinolfi played a role in connecting Chatillon to the CasaPound network, perhaps even years before Chatillon’s relocation to Italy.

CasaPound remains a significant force in the Italian far-right and neofascist environment. While it was founded simply as a social movement,^[51] in 2008 the organization registered as a political party and began running candidates in local and national elections. The party never had an electoral breakthrough^[52] and on June 26, 2019, Iannone announced the dissolution of the party and the reestablishment of CasaPound as a social movement.^[53] Yet, this shift did not necessarily signal a decline. As of the mid-2010s, CasaPound boasted more than 5,000 members, more than a dozen branches across almost all Italian regions, and numerous business operations (including bookstores and restaurants).^[54] Furthermore, its members have been identified among the foreign fighters participating in the conflict in Ukraine.^[55] One of the most headline-grabbing recent events featuring the organization was the arrest of 21 CasaPound members, including its leader Iannone, on November 1, 2023, at the airport in Athens, Greece.[56] The contingent of CasaPound activists were traveling to Greece to take part in a mass extreme-right rally organized to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the deaths of two members of Golden Dawn, the neo-Nazi party that has been suppressed by the Greek government for its violent activities.

Thus, two decades after its founding, CasaPound remains as one of the most active and lasting aspects of Adinolfi’s legacy and a reminder of his impact on the contours of Italian neofascist activism in the twenty-first century.

Centro Studi Polaris

As illustrated in Box 1,[58] the five sessions of the lecture series presented a revived view of Third Positionism, updated for the twenty-first century. For example, the first session discussed the theme of capitalism at length, while the second focused on the role of multinational corporations in facilitating international finance capitalism. Furthermore, the courses offered a broad overview of postwar history, including an entire session dedicated to the “non-fictionalized history of neofascism.” Likewise, it should be emphasized how significant it is that the Polaris lecture series was among the first ideological programs offered at the newly founded CasaPound. Clearly, Adinolfi was not only at the forefront of establishing the organization, but also providing it ideological content to serve as its animating force.

Box 1. Polaris Lecture Series at CasaPound, March and May 2004 First Session – March 2, 2004 (with Giorgio Vitangeli, Miro Renzaglia, Carlo Piras) – Definition of Capitalism – Differences Among Capitalist Models – Confrontation between Anglo-Saxon and Rhenish (German?) Capitalism – The USA’s Economic War on Europe – Role of the Euro   Second Session – March 9, 2004 (with Giorgio Vitali and Miro Renzaglia) – Definition of Multinational [Corporations] – Strategic Role of Multinationals on the Global Scene – Multinationals, American Imperialism, and the War on Europe – The Origins of the Structural Oligopoly – Multinationals as an Organized Crime and Mafia System – Multinationals, GMOs, and the Pharmaceutical Industry: A Global Metastasis   Third Session – March 19, 2004 “Real History of the Postwar Period” (with Maurizio Messina, Valerio Ricci, Miro Renzaglia) – Foundation and Original Communist Vocation of the UN – Cold War: USA and USSR, Two Partners/Rivals in the World Order – Decolonization: The Transition to the Civilization of the Multinationals – The Nuclear Nonproliferation Diktat and the International Role of Nasser and Perón – Colby Doctrine: The CIA’s Pro-Communist Option Imposes Itself – Six Days War: Israel Assumes a Central Role in International Tension – The Seventies: The Non-Aligned Movement, Youthful Rebellion, and Centers of Control – Strategy of Tension: OAS and PIDE, Marxist Foundations, Avanguardia Operaia, Lotta Continua, All the Hubs of Troublemakers – War of the Dollar: USA Against De Gaulle, End of the Bretton Woods Agreement – 1973: Yom Kippur War, International Debt Moratorium, Increase in the Petrodollar: The Beginning of the Era of the Narcodollar and the Trilateral Strategy, Beginning of the Age of Attacks and Terrorism – From the Fall of the Berlin Wall Began the Era of the Sole Superpower: The Doctrines of Brzezinski and Huntington, the Phantom of Islamic Integralism Replaces the Soviet One, War on Europe – Towards Tomorrow: Between Attacks and Blackmail, Eurasia, USA-China Bipolarism, or Total Chaos   Fourth Session – March 26, 2004 “With Pennants on the Barricades: The Non-Fictionalized History of Neofascism” (with Alberto Rossi, Maurizio Messina, Miro Renzaglia) – Dawn of the MSI – Birth of the Green Shirts and Attack on the Dark Shops – The Congress of Genoa and the Tambroni Trap – The Generational Fracture: Anti-Americanism and Movementism—From Orologio to Valle Giulia – The Non-Red Student Movement: From Caravella to Lotta di Popolo – From the Thrill of Opposing Rebellions to the Quagmire of Opposing Extremisms – Birth of the Strategy of Tension – Piazza Fontana and the Borghese Coup – Reggio Calabria: Neofascism Against the Constituted Order – The Attack at the Foundation of the Historical Compromise: Fascists in the Role of the Cursed Scapegoat – Killing a Fascist Is Not a Crime – In the Second Half of the 1970s the Nihilistic Generational Revolt Took Place – The Revolutionary Impulse in the Midst of the Years of Lead: Terza Posizione – Anti-Atlanticism and Self-Determination of Peoples as a Watershed – Discipline and Spontaneity: Choosing between a Break and an Open Door to Provocations – The Bologna MassacreThe Armed Struggle and Its Multiple Aspects – In Synthesis: History of an Adventurous Journey that Lasted Forty Years   Fifth Session – May 24, 2004 “First Session on Communication” (with Giorgio Valentini, Flavio Nardi) – The Basic Laws of Communication – Analytical Language and Numeric Language – One-Way Communication and Two-Way Communication – The Diversification of Instruments and the Public – Sociology of Communications – Old Conditioned Reflexes of Politics as Usual – Positive and Negative Practical Examples

Beginning in 2005, Adinolfi traveled around Italy to present Polaris to local chapters of far-right and neofascist organizations. Furthermore, on January 5–6, 2008, Polaris held its first annual national gathering in Abruzzo. This gathering would continue to be held yearly in various places around Italy, with most future iterations held in November. In addition to the annual national gathering, Polaris regularly sponsored talks and conferences—many of which featured members of CasaPound and other figures from Adinolfi’s wider network. For example, he regularly discussed the Polaris project on CasaPound’s radio station—Radio Bandiera Nera (Black Flag Radio).^[59]

Perhaps one of Adinolfi’s most importance presentations of the Polaris project came on November 9, 2011, at the European Parliament in Brussels. The event was entitled “Polaris: A Think Tank for Europe” and organized by Hungarian MEP Béla Kovács (Jobbik). The European orientation of Polaris continued to gain steam in the early 2010s. On June 14, 2012, the think tank organized a conference called “We’ll Call It Europe” held in Rome. The event was sponsored by the Italian Parliamentary Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The leader of the delegation who spearheaded the collaboration, and also spoke at the event, was Riccardo Migliori (b. 1952), who had been a member of MSI and AN before joining Berlusconi’s People of Freedom.

In addition to organizing conferences and events, on May 7, 2010, Polaris launched a magazine (also called Polaris).^[60] The magazine is published by Passaggio al Bosco and has seen 27 issues, with the most recent coming out in spring 2024. The essays in Polaris cover a range of themes of interest to the neofascist right, from economics and geopolitics to culture and current events. In addition to Adinolfi, some of the most salient contributors to the magazine include: Iliade Institute representative Pierluigi Locchi;^[61] CasaPound member Adriano Scianca (b. 1980);^[62] Carlomanno Adinolfi (b. 1981); and Halvard Mabire (b. 1956), son of Jean Mabire.

Polaris quickly adapted to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 by launching an online lecture series called “Europe Academy.”^[63] The programming was offered in Italian, French, and Spanish, and included approximately 30 video lectures published between March and December 2020. The first series of videos covered macro-level concepts that have frequently appeared in Adinolfi’s writings, such as globalization, capitalism, sovereignty, and power. Future videos addressed a wide range of topics, including current events (such as the pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, and the U.S. presidential elections) and important figures on the neofascist right (such as Léon Degrelle and Jean-Marie Le Pen, with the latter even joining Adinolfi on the program for an interview on June 25).

Centro Studi Polaris continues to operate as one of the principal nodes in Adinolfi’s network. Its journals, events, and online resources provide an important conduit for Adinolfi to continue to spread his ideology, while also serving as a platform from which to develop links with other similar organizations. For example, Polaris has a working relationship with the French neo-Nazi and neo-Pagan Iliade Institute—in fact, Iliade representative Locchi made a presentation about his organization at the 13th national gathering of Polaris on November 26, 2022, and has also appeared in the think tank’s magazine. Given its almost two-decade history and continuing relevance, Polaris is key to understanding Adinolfi’s contemporary activities and connections.

Partner Organizations Across Italy

In addition to spearheading CasaPound and Centro Studi Polaris, since returning to Italy Adinolfi has built links with many smaller organizations in the far-right and neofascist environment. In many cases, his collaboration with these organizations began through his speaking engagements and developed further over time. While there are dozens of such organizations, several stand out as being particularly salient, either due to their other activities or the frequency with which they appear on Adinolfi’s calendar of speaking events.

National Union of RSI Soldiers

In the early 2000s, Adinolfi developed a connection with the National Union of RSI Soldiers (UNCRSI, Unione Nazionale Combattenti della RSI), which served as a veterans’ association for the ex-combatants of Mussolini’s Italian Social Republic (RSI, Repubblica Sociale Italiana). UNCRSI’s roots trace back to the National Federation of RSI Soldiers (FNCRSI, Federazione Nazionale Combattenti della RSI), which was founded in 1949 and chaired from 1951 until his death in 1955 by the RSI Defense Minister, General Rodolfo Graziani (1882–1955).^[64] On May 19, 1962, following internal disputes within FNCRSI, a faction broke away and established UNCRSI under the leadership of Colonel Bruno Gemelli. UNCRSI quickly gained precedence over the organization from which it split—which dissolved soon thereafter when its president, Prince Junio Valerio Borghese (1906–74), himself left and joined UNCRSI. The association had close ties with MSI, with all of its leaders from the 1960s onward coming from the party.

Adinolfi’s first documented tie with UNCRSI came on October 3, 2003, when he participated in a protest organized by the association in Turin. Over the next five years, he was featured in at least a half dozen events either sponsored by UNCRSI or including the leader of the group’s Turin branch, Gian Maria Guasti (1925–2013), a former RSI solider and recipient of the Nazi Iron Cross. For example, on September 23, 2005, Adinolfi participated in a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the arrest warrants issued for members of Terza Posizione. The theme was “the feats of the proscribed—everything that doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” The event was held at the Cutty Sark restaurant in Rome and proceeds from the dinner went to support a health fund for RSI veterans managed by UNCRSI. Similarly, on November 28, 2008, Adinolfi hosted an event at CasaPound in Rome called “Cain and Cain: I Faced Partisan Hatred,” at which Guasti was invited to share his memories of the war and postwar period.

Furthermore, Adinolfi played a key role in connecting UNCRSI with its French counterparts, the veterans of the Charlemagne SS. On May 8, 2003, he met Paul Pignard-Berthet (1920–2010), a former member of the Charlemagne SS, at Bad Reichenhall, Germany. He was there to participate in a ceremony commemorating the 12 French SS soldiers killed by Allied forces there in 1945. According to Adinolfi, Pignard-Berthet asked him to help identify Italian collaborators. Adinolfi then connected him to Guasti. This contact led to the establishment of formal relations between the groups—on April 24, 2004, Adinolfi attended a gathering of veterans of the RSI and Charlemagne SS held in Turin at the UNCRSI headquarters and jointly organized by Guasti and Pignard-Berthet.

Casaggì and Passaggio al Bosco

During the 2010s, Adinolfi also appeared numerous times at the Casaggì, a neofascist social space in Florence linked to Fratelli d’Italia (FdI).^[65] Casaggì is an identitarian social club founded in 2005 by members of the National Alliance’s youth group, Youth Action (AG, Azione Giovani).^[66] During the years in which National Alliance was absorbed into Berlusconi’s People of Freedom, Casaggì served as a citadel to preserve the most militant and committed neofascist strain within the party’s membership. Following the establishment of Brothers of Italy in 2013, Casaggì partnered with its youth branch, National Youth (GN, Gioventù Nazionale), and spearheaded the refoundation of the party’s student organization, Student Action (AS, Azione Studentesca), in 2016^[67] The link between Casaggì, GN, and AS is so tight that their respective headquarters are located at the same Florence address (via Frusa 37). Casaggì promotes a hardline, neofascist ideology and its members seek to emulate a pantheon of “Masters of Life” including numerous well-known figures, including Robert Brasillach, Corneliu Codreanu, Julius Evola, Léon Degrelle, and J.R.R. Tolkien.^[68] Unsurprisingly, its members valorize violence and have regularly been implicated in street violence in the city.

Adinolfi’s personal agenda records five times he visited Casaggì between 2012 and 2018. He twice presented his books to the group (Quella Strage Fascista on October 8, 2014; Io Fascista Recercato on September 18, 2015). He also made three additional presentations, twice on Europe (“Europe between Nightmare and Destiny” on June 15, 2012; “Dies Europea” on November 9, 2018), and once on Che Guevara (October 11, 2013).

In addition to his direct interaction with Casaggì, Adinolfi has also regularly interfaced with its publishing house, Pasaggio al Bosco. Pasaggio al Bosco was founded in September 2017 at Casaggì, with the mission to preserve and diffuse the writings of prominent neofascist thinkers, past and present.^[69] The press has published three books by Adinolfi: Matteo Salvini: X-Ray of a Phenomenon (2019); Neither Red Front nor Reaction: The Writings of Terza Posizione (2020); and The Myth of Europe (2023). Since 2022, it has also published the Polaris magazine produced by Adinolfi’s Centro Studi Polaris. And in 2022, it also published a book written by Adinolfi’s son, Carlomanno, entitled The Sun of the Empire.

Adinolfi has also regularly appeared alongside the press’s editor and founder, Marco Scatarzi. Since 2014, he has attended at least 18 events with Scatarzi, most of which have occurred since 2021 on the radio program Kulturaeuropa (see below for more).

Kulturaeuropa

As Adinolfi transitioned his activities to the online sphere during the Covid-19 pandemic, he began to regularly appear on the radio program run by the neofascist Centro Studi Kulturaeuropa.^[70] Kulturaeuropa was founded in March 2020 as a far-right, online community, comprising a web radio program and a study center that regularly publishes articles and blogposts on its website. Among the founders of the organization were several figures already in Adinolfi’s orbit, including his son Carlomanno, Scatarzi of Passaggio al Bosco, and Scianca of CasaPound and Polaris. Over the past several years, a significant number of Adinolfi’s public appearances have been on the Radio Kulturaeuropa program, including 15 appearances in 2021, 10 in 2022, and 9 and 2023.

Reviewing the topics discussed on Radio Kulturaeuropa reveals this relatively new organization’s links to other nodes in Adinolfi’s broader network. For example, the June 25, 2022, episode featured a discussion about Adinolfi’s cadre of neofascist elites, the Lansquenets of Europe (see Chapter IV). Likewise, several recent episodes have discussed the French neo-Nazi and neo-Pagan Iliade Institute (see Chapter IV). The program also maintains links to the past; for example, in 2021 Roberto Fiore appeared alongside Adinolfi on three episodes relating to the Years of Lead (April 20, April 27, and May 4, 2021). Given his frequent participation in its programs and the involvement of several of his close associates, including his son, Kulturaeuropa appears to be one of the newest links in the chain of neofascist outlets established at least in part by Adinolfi in Italy over the past several decades.

Conclusion

Adinolfi’s return to Italy in 2000 commenced a new phase in his neofascist activism, one in which his sights were set on creating an institutional infrastructure to recruit, train, and commission a new generation of far-right foot soldiers. This is most clearly evident through his roles establishing CasaPound and the Centro Studi Polaris, which explicitly serve to promote the neofascist agenda and organize its militants. But this activity is also clear in the way he developed relationships with numerous individuals and organizations spread around Italy, particularly though his presentations and collaborations. Adinolfi’s success in reconstructing the Italian neofascist network in the 2000s would foreshadow his efforts in the 2010s to replicate this achievement on the European level.

Chapter IV: Transnational Linkages of the Neofascist Project

“The Lansquenet is loyal to the great idea, political and spiritual, for which he fights…he must be a fixed axis: his reference points are the celestial pole, the sun, the moon, beauty, order, rectitude, cleanliness, dignity. In short, the spiritual aristocracy.”

—Gabriele Adinolfi^[71]

Introduction

Just as Adinolfi embarked on recreating an Italian neofascist network once returning from exile in 2000, so too did he attempt to maintain and grow his links to similar networks across Europe. The transnational phase of Adinolfi’s activism became particularly apparent during the 2010s, during which he established a think tank, EurHope, and began recruiting a cadre of neofascist elites from across the continent, the Lansquenets of Europe. During this time, he also maintained and built upon his links with a variety of individuals and groups spread around Europe, including—Terre et Peuple, GUD and its splinter organizations, and the Iliade Institute. These connections further underline the high level of collaboration and coordination between neofascist actors around Europe—all centered around Adinolfi.

This chapter proceeds as follows:

• The first section elaborates on the foundation and ideology of the Lansquenets of Europe.

• The second section briefly discusses Adinolfi’s European think tank, EurHope.

• The third section reviews a series of the most salient organizations around Europe that form central nodes in Adinolfi’s transnational network.

• The fourth section reflects on what these linkages suggest about the transnational nature of the contemporary neofascist right in Europe.

Lansquenets of Europe

The original Lansquenets were a mercenary force of German military which engaged in armed adventurist activities across Europe. The modern Lansquenets, established by Adinolfi, are a cadre of neofascist elites with the goal of spearheading the promotion of neofascist ideas in the realms of politics, economics, and culture. The first appearance of the Lansquenets on Adinolfi’s speaking agenda was on September 5, 2014, when Adinolfi presented the project at Villa Luzi in Passo di Treia (Marche). This initial meeting was followed by several others in various parts of Italy, including Bari (September 19, 2014) and Rome (September 22, 2014). The first full gathering of the Lansquenets was held on April 30–May 2, 2015, in the town of Tagliacozzo (Abruzzo). At this point, it appears that most members were Italian—but that was soon to change.

On January 22, 2016, Adinolfi made his first formal presentation of the Lansquenets to a French audience, at Restaurant Barbezingue in Paris. Among the approximately 90 people in attendance, there were a wide variety of hopes expressed about what the Lansquenets should be, ranging from an informal network to an actual political party. Adinolfi recounted that he allowed the debate to continue over the course of several months as he continued presenting the project to different groups around France. It was only when the number of those who were interested had dwindled to approximately a dozen that he took a more forceful role in declaring what he thought the Lansquenets should be. As he described the situation:

“I established [the Lansquenets] as a guild, but we could also say it is a fraternity…Just after its first creation in Italy, I exported it to France. Around 90 people attended the original presentation…The expectations were high, but everyone anticipated something they should not have…some wanted a study center, others a political movement, others a sect that would inflate the chest with slogans, others an electoral platform. For a year I held meetings in a bistro and deliberately did not speak about anything specific or concrete. I wanted to see who would remain, trusting that they were participating in a vaguely defined bet. When only around a dozen people remained, I began the activities. Calm activities directed principally at understanding, reflecting, and connecting. This is the beginning of the network of relationships that gave origin to the Lansquenets of Europe.”^[72]

Once he had established his core group of Lansquenets, Adinolfi began organizing more frequent gatherings between them. The first annual summer gathering took place July 29–31, 2016, in Aix-en-Provence. These events would become regular affairs, being held every summer since then. The second such event, themed “Iron Vanguard,” was held September 1–3, 2017, in Romania and Moldova.^[73] The remaining events were all held in Aix-en-Provence on the following dates: July 26–29, 2018 (“We Are Europe”); July 25–28, 2019 (“Sons of the Sun”); July 23–26, 2020; July 22–25, 2021; July 21–24, 2022; and July 20–23, 2023. In addition, a “Lansquenets on Horseback” weekend was held March 24–26, 2017, in Tuscany, with future editions being held outside of Rome on March 23–25, 2018, and April 12–13, 2019.

One of the most revealing Lansquenet events held thus far was a journey to Greece held in October 2017. On October 31, 2017, Adinolfi led a delegation of Lansquenets to the sanctuary of Delphi for an event entitled “Baptism of the Flag.” While there, Adinolfi brandished the Lansquenet flag next to the Omphalos of Pythia at the Altar of Apollo, considered by the ancients to be the “bellybutton of the world.”

While building camaraderie and loyalty among the Lansquenets themselves, Adinolfi has also continued to present his project around Italy, France, and Spain. For example, on March 12, 2016, he presented both the Lansquenets and his think tank, EurHope, at the Hotel Etats-Unis Opéra in Paris. He also presented the Lansquenets at the national gathering of Synthèse National on October 2, 2016, and at the annual congress of Terre et Peuple in Rungis (France) on December 10, 2017. Most recently, he hosted “Camp Lansquenet” at the Asociación Alfonso I in Cantabria (Spain) on May 12, 2023.

As Adinolfi has indicated, the Lansquenets is not a mass movement, but an elite cadre with the commitment and shared ideals necessary to influence politics and society. In his recent writings on the group, he has been more specific about what this looks like in practice:

“It is not necessary for there to be thousands and thousands of Lansquenets, as long as they work in a synergistic manner. In all of Europe, three thousand would be sufficient…on the national level, it would depend on the population of each country…In Italy and France, three hundred; in Spain, two hundred; in the Netherlands and Romania, seventy; in Greece, Portugal, Hungary, and Austria, fifty; in Norway, twenty would be sufficient. Of course, we are talking about Lansquenets who have already been trained and are solid, with adequate connections and influence.”^[74]

While the desire for a small group of elites is clear, the identity of the Lansquenets remains a secret. Nevertheless, examining Adinolfi’s network and connections provides some clues as to the membership. Several likely members include:

• Pascal Lasalle: Lasalle is a former member of GRECE and Terre et Peuple and is also a co-founder of the French far-right radio programs Méridien Zéro and Radio Courtoisie on which Adinolfi has frequently appeared over the years.^[75] Furthermore, Lassalle has translated two of Adinolfi’s books into French from Italian (Noi Terza Posizione [2000] and Tortuga, l’isola che (non) c’è [2008]). Given his long association with Adinolfi and his appearance at many events alongside him in recent years, it is quite likely he is a member of the Lansquenets.

• Pierluigi Locchi: Locchi is a representative of the Iliade Institute and son of Italian co-founder of GRECE, Giorgio Locchi. Locchi’s membership in the Lansquenets is almost certain, as he appeared alongside Adinolfi on a Radio Kulturaeuropa segment on June 28, 2022, to discuss the upcoming 7th Lansquenets Meeting. Furthermore, he has regularly presented on behalf of the Iliade Institute at venues linked to Adinolfi (such as the aforementioned national gathering of Polaris on November 26, 2022). Furthermore, Adinolfi has also tightened his links to Iliade over the last several years, and the Institute’s neo-Pagan ideology seems to fit well with several prominent Lansquenet motifs (e.g., the visit to Delphi and summer gatherings held in Aix-en-Provence, the same location as the summer universities hosted by GRECE and attended by Adinolfi in the 1990s).

• Konstantinos Boviatsos: Boviatsos is a member of the Greek neo-Nazi Golden Dawn. His association with Adinolfi stretches back to at least October 4, 2014, when he appeared alongside Adinolfi at an event entitled “Gold Dawn: The Political Struggle and the Strategy of Tension” held in Belgium.^[76] More recently, he has appeared with Adinolfi at several events, including “Another Europe Is Imperative” on June 17, 2017, in Paris, and “Vanguards of Europe” at the “Spanish Spring” conference on May 29, 2018, in Barcelona. Boviatsos’s membership on the Lansquenets is also highly likely, given that he too appeared on the previously mentioned Radio Kulturaeuropa segment on June 28, 2022, to discuss the upcoming 7th Lansquenets Meeting.

• Enrique Ravello: Ravello (b. 1968) has a long history on the Spanish far-right—he has previously been a member of the neo-Nazi CEDADE and also Tierra y Pueblo, the Spanish branch of the French Terre et Peuple founded in 2002 (see below for more on Terre et Peuple).^[77] His first known link to Adinolfi dates back to November 5, 2005, when Adinolfi spoke at the Second International Colloquium of Tierra y Pueblo in Valencia (Spain). He has frequently appeared alongside Adinolfi at other events over the past two decades, as his name appears almost two dozen times on Adinolfi’s speaking agenda. Most importantly, his links to the Lansquenets also trace to his appearance alongside Adinolfi on a Radio Kulturaeuropa segment on June 28, 2022, to discuss the upcoming 7th Lansquenets Meeting.

• Jean-Marie Le Pen: Le Pen (b. 1928) is perhaps the most publicly infamous figure of the postwar French far right, best known for his participation in OAS operations in French Algeria and his founding of the National Front in 1972. His links to the Lansquenets are less certain, but still possible given his known association with Adinolfi. For example, Le Pen was present at the October 2, 2016, national gathering of Synthèse National at which Adinolfi presented the Lansquenets project and sought recruits. They both also appeared at the “We Are Europe” conference held on June 15, 2019, in Valencia (Spain). The bond between the two men was even strong enough that Adinolfi dedicated a session of the Polaris online university “Europe Academy” to Le Pen (on June 25, 2020, entitled “Jean-Marie Le Pen: The Last Leader, the Last Politician, the Last Fighter”), and even managed to have Le Pen participate in the session. Furthermore, a video posted on YouTube on January 27, 2023, shows Le Pen singing the Lansquenets song alongside his longtime collaborator and RN MEP Bruno Gollnisch (b. 1950).[78] While proof-positive evidence for Le Pen’s membership in the Lansquenets is lacking, it seems almost certain that he is aware of the project and would have been approached to join.

• Pierre Vial: Vial (b. 1942) is also a central figure in the history of the postwar French far right, having been a member of FEN in the 1960s, a founding member of GRECE in 1968, and a member of the National Front in the 1980s and 1990s. However, in 1995 he broke from these organizations and founded his own neo-Nazi and neo-Pagan movement, Terre et Peuple (see below for more on Terre et Peuple). Adinolfi’s speaking calendar also demonstrates a long relationship with Vial, who appears approximately a dozen times. Likewise, Adinolfi has appeared at Terre et Peuple events numerous times, including the organization’s annual congress on December 10, 2017, during which Adinolfi presented the Lansquenet Project. As with Le Pen, Vial’s membership in the Lansquenets is not certain, but he would appear to have the necessary connections and background to fit well into the model of the Lansquenet envisioned by Adinolfi.

Beyond its small and selective membership, the elitist and aristocratic structure of the Lansquenets as an organization is further reflected in the cadre’s core ideology. The name “Lansquenet” derives from the German word Landsknecht, which was used to describe the mercenaries who comprised most of the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire.^[79] This idea of a vanguard or frontline defending Imperial Europe lies at the heart of the mission and ideology of Adinolfi’s Lansquenets. According to Adinolfi, the Lansquenets are meant to be the harbingers and defenders of a European Imperium, an almost metaphysical and mystical order that originates from within (self-discipline, values, commitment) and flows outward (politics, society, culture). Adinolfi’s writings on the subject are heavily laden with florid language reminiscent of knightly chivalry and noble action, oriented toward the Lansquenet’s mission to “find the thread of yarn to regenerate an imperial, identitarian, vertical, and social Europe, of which we should all be the bards, the minstrels, the troubadours…”^[80]

The Lansquenets of Europe remains one of the most intriguing and active aspects of Adinolfi’s current activism. The organization has developed from a largely private affair in the 2010s to a more public one in the 2020s, following the publication of Adinolfi’s book on the Lansquenets in three languages in 2022–23: Sfida al futuro (Edizioni Soccorso Sociale), Desafío al mundo (Ediciones Fides), and Le défi au futur (Synthèse Editions). Given the considerable amount of time Adinolfi has dedicated to the project—and its links with many important organizations around Europe—the Lansquenets are clearly a central component of the transnational network being constructed by Adinolfi around Europe.

EurHope

Following his presentation at the European Parliament, Adinolfi continued to promote EurHope throughout the spring and summer of 2016, including events in: Milan (March 23); Lille (April 7); Paris (April 12); and Valencia, Madrid, and Barcelona (June 28–30). The first program offered by the new think tank was a training course, first launched on May 30, 2016, at Artémis (near Paris). This first course was followed by several others: a “Framework Course on Communication” (October 1, 2016, Paris); “Third Formation Course” (January 28, 2017, Paris); and the “Formation Course on Power” (February 19, 2017, Valencia). Additionally, on February 11, 2017, EurHope co-sponsored a conference with Polaris entitled “Europe Finds Its Center Again” held in Trieste.

Upon its founding, EurHope associated with the Alliance of European National Movements (AENM), the far-right European political party founded in 2009. Previous members of AENM included Italy’s Tricolor Flame Social Movement and United Right, Hungary’s Jobbik (until 2016), the UK’s British National Party, and France’s National Front (until 2011). Adinolfi’s link to AENM arises principally through CasaPound—when it was first founded, CasaPound formed an association with AENM member Tricolor Flame, and upon its foundation as a political party in 2008, CasaPound also continued to associate with this Europarty. Additionally, Adinolfi had previous ties to AENM founder and president Béla Kovács of the Hungarian Jobbik—as previously noted, Kovács hosted Adinolfi at the European Parliament on November 9, 2011, to present his Polaris project.

Since 2020, it appears that Adinolfi has shifted his focus away from EurHope and directed it more heavily toward the Lansquenets. As noted, the two projects had always been somewhat intertwined—the EurHope website has several press releases and articles about the Lansquenets, and Adinolfi’s previously mentioned presentation in Paris on March 12, 2016, jointly presented EurHope and the Lansquenets as a unified project. Furthermore, the EurHope website has not published new content since September 2020. The penultimate post on the site is entitled “New Beginnings” and states in part:

“We want to refresh the concept of our project and re-interpret its formula. We want to devote our time and our potential to completely promoting this vision of Europe. So as to professionally and rationally create an alternative perfectly suited to our times.”^[83]

While the future of EurHope remains to be seen, it is clearly an important node within the wider network linking Adinolfi’s projects to the European far-right space. Its stated mission to protect and renew Europe is one of the clearest articulations of the Europeanism of a growing number of far-right and neofascist actors, who no longer seek to leave the EU or withdraw from international cooperation, but to take over European institutions and transform them from the inside out. Both EurHope and the Lansquenets provide a path to achieving this goal, which would result in a radical reshaping of Europe and the entrenchment of far-right forces in power.

Partner Organizations Across Europe

While the Lansquenets and EurHope represent the principal vehicles through which Adinolfi has promoted a transnational network of like-minded activists, he also has close ties to many organizations in Western Europe—especially France. Three of the most noteworthy and important to his contemporary activities are: Terre et Peuple, GUD and its offshoots, and the Iliade Institute.

Terre et Peuple

Terre et Peuple is a French identitarian movement founded by Pierre Vial in 1995. As previously discussed, Vial had spent years in the French neofascist environment, including in FEN, GRECE, and the National Front. He founded Terre et Peuple to more fully emphasize the ethnic and racial dimensions of neofascist ideology, which he found to be lacking in the other Nouvelle Droite organizations. Terre et Peuple’s disposition is widely viewed to be white supremacist, against multiculturalism, and inclined toward violence.^[84]

Adinolfi has regularly presented at events organized by Terre et Peuple, as well as maintaining close ties to Vial himself. He has spoken at several of the organization’s national gatherings, including its conference on December 7, 2014, at which Adinolfi delivered a presentation entitled “The Cultural Reconquista.” Adinolfi also holds close ties to the Spanish offshoot of the organization, Tierra y Pueblo,^[85] and one of its principal figures, Enrique Ravello—together, they appear more than two dozen times on his agenda over the past two decades.

GUD and Its Offshoots

As discussed in Chapter II, Adinolfi developed close ties to GUD in France during the 1980s and 1990s, particularly when the organization was under the leadership of Frédéric Chatillon and Axel Loustau. These links continued even after Adinolfi’s return to Italy—for example, on November 14, 2015, Adinolfi was invited to speak at the “European Conference of GUD” held in Rungis (Paris). Furthermore, during the 2010s he delivered numerous lectures at several offshoots of GUD that developed during the period in which the organization ceased its activities. For example, he delivered two lectures on “Revolutionary Nationalism” at Bastion Social, on January 12, 2018 (Strasbourg) and February 17, 2018 (Lyon). He also presented a lecture entitled “Militantism” at the far-right Catholic paramilitary group Academia Christiana, during its summery university on August 25, 2017.^[86] In recent years, he has continued to engage with small splinter groups that emerged from the French far-right, paramilitary space—including the Cercle François Duprat reading group of Lyon Populaire (where he presented “Fascism” on September 16, 2023), and the Cercle Prométhée reading group of Des Tours et des Lys (where he presented “Strategy of Tension” on April 4, 2024).

Iliade Institute

The Iliade Institute is a neo-Nazi and neo-Pagan think tank founded on July 18, 2014, by Philippe Conrad (b. 1945), Jean-Yves Le Gallou (b. 1948), and Bernard Lugan (b. 1946). They did so in commemoration of the last wishes of Dominique Venner, following his 2013 suicide in Notre Dame Cathedral. Iliade’s activities involve publications and events oriented toward cultivating a sense of European identity, which is viewed as under threat due to immigration, internationalism, and various other ills of modernity.^[87]

Adinolfi’s links to Iliade have arisen mainly in the early 2020s, and he appears to be a key figure in facilitating the Institute’s spread to Italy. For example, at its national gathering on November 26, 2022, his Centro Studi Polaris invited Iliade representative Pierluigi Locchi to deliver a presentation about the organization. Furthermore, Adinolfi himself appeared on a Kulturaeuropa program alongside Pierluigi Locchi on April 22, 2023, to discuss the “Tenth Symposium of the Iliade Institute,” and he likewise participated in the “Presentation of the Iliade Institute” held on May 27, 2023, in Naples. Additionally, on April 15, 2023, Adinolfi held a book dedication for Myth or Utopia: A Vertical Re-Reading of Orwell (published by La Nouvelle Librairie Éditions) at the Iliade Institute headquarters in Paris. Adinolfi’s links to Iliade also travel through other nodes in his network; as noted in Chapter III, Adinolfi also has extensive ties to the far-right press Passaggio al Bosco, which publishes a line of “Iliade” books linked to the Institute.

Conclusion

The extension of Adinolfi’s network to the European level throughout the 2010s reveals not only the breadth of his contemporary influence, but also the multifaceted nature of his connections. His activities stretch from courting elites (Lansquenets) to cultivating the grassroots (GUD and its offshoots), and he carries out these activities in a range of venues, from the realm of traditional party politics (EurHope) to the training camps of paramilitary activism (GUD, Terre et Peuple), to the intellectual halls of cultural and ideological production (Iliade). Linking together these distinct nodes reveals a comprehensive network of collaborators and allies across borders, who despite their varied backgrounds are united in a shared desire to radically reshape the political, economic, and cultural foundations of modern Europe in a direction reminiscent of the fascist movements of a century ago.

Chapter V: Conclusions

“Only a unified and sovereign Europe…could have allowed the cause of the peoples to prevail against…the formless and massifying monster of the anti-European spirit.”

—Gabriele Adinolfi^[88]

Addressing the challenges posed by the rise of the far right in Europe requires first developing a comprehensive understanding of it, especially the ideational and structural bases on which it is founded. In the quest to characterize and trace these ideas and structures, there are few figures who serve as a better guide than Gabriele Adinolfi. Over the course of more than five decades, Adinolfi has been at the forefront of the neofascist reaction against the modern world in Europe. His research, writings, speeches, organizations, and other forms of activism have provided an almost constant source of inspiration, ideas, strategies, and tactics to individuals and organizations in Italy and around Europe—allowing him to serve as a critical point of connection within a larger network of far-right and neofascist forces.

As this report has documented, Adinolfi’s own political trajectory offers a thorough tour of many of the most salient events, individuals, and organizations who have characterized the far-right and neofascist environment in postwar Europe:

• His activism on the streets of Rome in the 1960s and 1970s highlights the contestation and generational transformations experienced by the Italian far right at the time. This includes his links to numerous important individuals—such as Dantini, Delle Chiaie, Graziani, Fiore, and Spedicato—and key organizations—including Lotta di Popolo, Avanguardia Nazionale, and Terza Posizione.

• His two decades on the run across Western Europe in the 1980s and 1990s underline the importance of transnational connections and cooperation among far-right forces in postwar Europe. In Adinolfi’s case, this included links to known Nazi collaborators (Degrelle), paramilitary activist organizations (GUD), the ideological pioneers of the Nouvelle Droite (GRECE), and Catholic traditionalists (Action Française, SSPX).

• His return to Italy in 2000 and reengagement in neofascist activism showcases the influence of contemporary neofascist actors in Italy. This is most obviously the case regarding his work as the éminence grise of CasaPound but is also expressed via the activities of his Centro Studi Polaris and via the web of smaller far-right and neofascist organizations around Italy with which he has partnered.

• His activism on the European level, particularly since the early 2010s, emphasizes the truly transnational character of today’s far right. Through his initiatives such as the Lansquenets and EurHope—as well as his links to far-right and neofascist organizations based across the content—Adinolfi has reinvigorated the neofascist project and given it a new lease on life in the twenty-first century.

Better understanding these connections, interactions, and overlaps provides clarity regarding the nature of the current wave of right-wing success—and what it may portend for the future. In particular, the overall patterns that have emerged from this review of the life and work of Gabriele Adinolfi suggest three key insights into the nature, tactics, and goals of today’s European far right.

First and foremost, Adinolfi’s life is a testament to the truly transnational nature of European far-right politics—as well as evidence that such international connections are not new. Instead, Adinolfi demonstrates how collaboration between neofascist forces across borders has been a relatively constant feature of the postwar period. Furthermore, beyond the strategic and tactical implications of such transnational networks, the European nature of today’s far right speaks volumes about the right’s ideology and vision. Rather than simply rejecting institutionalized expressions of Europe, such as the European Union, today’s far right embraces its “European-ness” and seeks to promote its own view of what Europe is and should be. Part and parcel of this effort is to gain power in national capitals and the EU, so as to change them from the inside. While individual parties, leaders, and thinkers may express this goal in different ways, they all find some resemblance in the notion of the European Imperium promulgated by Adinolfi and promoted by his Lansquenets. The notion of Europe as an order based on particular virtues, values, shared history, and practices, will likely continue to take center stage in far-right articulations about Europe in the years to come.

Second, Adinolfi’s own past—as well as aspects of his present—recall the threat of political violence from the right. As recounted in Chapter I, Adinolfi’s own introduction to neofascist politics came on the violent streets of Rome during the “Years of Lead.” In his writings, he proudly recalls numerous specific incidents of street violence in which he was involved, and he does not shy away from admitting his connection to known violent actors. Furthermore, conducting a broad survey of the most prominent members of his Europe-wide network reveals numerous paramilitary and terrorist outfits, from Avanguardia Nazionale, to GUD, to CasaPound. Since his return to Italy in 2000, Adinolfi has appeared to carefully remain on the right side of the law and is not known to have continued the violent activities of his youth—but his activism has provided ideas and inspiration to a new generation of violent activists. This came first in the form of CasaPound, and later through his mentorship of violent youth organizations in France that have splintered from GUD, such as Bastion Social. This emphasis offers a healthy corrective to the view that today’s European far right is reformed and has completely abandoned violence. While it is true that party leaders no longer command paramilitary units or roving bands of vigilantes (à la Mussolini), the full network of far-right and neofascist actors includes many who are willing and ready to use violence. Thus, identifying violent actors and developing strategies to oppose them is of crucial importance, especially as Europe faces the potential of another period of far-right dominance.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, Adinolfi’s trajectory makes clear the continuing relevance and influence of (neo)fascism in contemporary politics. While almost all major far-right political parties and leaders have denounced fascism in some form or another, this should not obscure the fact that the fascist legacy is still alive in Europe—both its ideas and structures. Surveying the landscape of electorally viable far-right figures in Europe reveals numerous with clear neofascist pedigrees—such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who began her political career in the explicitly neofascist MSI of the 1990s, and French National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, who spent decades in the party while it was led by her notorious father before attempting to scrub away its most unsavory features after taking the helm in 2011. Further to the point is the fact that Adinolfi himself never denies that he is a neofascist, and in his writings he seems to revel in using the term. The intersection of electoral success for far-right parties and open embrace of neofascism among the cadres of their most ardent supporters may point to a future in which an electorally powerful right no longer shies away from its roots and makes explicit endorsement of some form of fascism politically feasible.

While far from the only significant actor in Italian or European far-right and neofascist politics, Adinolfi is particularly useful for understanding the development of the network of neofascist individuals and organizations spread around Europe. Fully accounting for this network would be impossible—in fact, describing it as a single “network” neglects the fact that it is more akin to a series of networks of various shapes and sizes, composed of moving parts that converge, diverge, and interact across space and over time. However, honing in on one particular trajectory reveals the utility of simplifying the picture and identifies Gabriele Adinolfi as a key architect of today’s European neofascist right.

---

^[1] ECR gained 9 seats for a total of 76, while ID gained 9 seats for a total of 58. https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/european-parliament-election/.

^[2] Dantini’s membership in Gladio was first uncovered in 1990 following an Italian parliamentary inquiry; see: https://www.senato.it/service/PDF/PDFServer/DF/264890.pdf. His collaboration with Aginter Press was reported by: Calvi, Fabrizio, and Frédéric Laurent. 1996. Piazza Fontana: La verità su una strage. Milan: Mondadori (hereafter referred to as Calvi and Laurent, Piazza Fontana).

^[3] Ferraresi, Franco. 1996. Threats to Democracy: The Radical Right in Italy After the War. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (hereafter referred to as: Ferraresi, Threats to Democracy); Calvi and Laurent, Piazza Fontana.

^[4] Adinolfi, Gabriele, and Roberto Fiore. 2000. Noi Terza Posizione. Rome: Edizioni Settimo Sigillo, p. 19 (hereafter referred to as: Adinolfi and Fiore, Noi Terza Posizione).

^[5] Adinolfi and Fiore, Noi Terza Posizione, p. 19.

^[6] Adinolfi and Fiore, Noi Terza Posizione, p. 14.

^[7] Adinolfi and Fiore, Noi Terza Posizione, p. 14.

^[8] Ferraresi, Threats to Democracy.

^[9] Primula Goliardica was a student organization founded at Rome’s Sapienza University in late 1967. It was short-lived, but notably took part in the infamous Battle of Valle Giulia on March 1, 1968. The organization’s leaders—Dantini and Guadenzi—went on to found Lotta di Popolo in 1969.

^[10] Hoffman, Bruce. 1989. “The Contrasting Ethical Foundations of Terrorism in the 1980s.” Terrorism and Political Violence 1(3): 361–77.

^[11] Dantini’s membership in Gladio was first uncovered in 1990 following an Italian parliamentary inquiry; see: https://www.senato.it/service/PDF/PDFServer/DF/264890.pdf. For more on Gladio, see: Ganser, Daniele. 2004. NATO’s Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and Terrorism in Western Europe. New York: Routledge.

^[12] His collaboration with Aginter Press was reported by: Calvi and Laurent. 1996. Piazza Fontana.

^[13] Di Corrado, Incerti, Sandro Ottolenghi, and Piero Raffaelli. 1974. “Almeno trenta erano i collaboratori italiani dell’Aginter Presse: Ecco i loro nomi e i documenti che provano la loro attività.” L’Europeo, November. https://web.archive.org/web/20160325170046/http://www.ecn.org/ponte/doss12/novita/agint2.html.

^[14] Adinolfi, Gabriele. 2014. Années de plomb et semelles de vent: 20 ans de cavale! Paris: Synthèse Editions, p. 199 (hereafter referred to as: Adinolfi, Années de plomb).

^[15] Adinolfi, Années de plomb. p. 199.

^[16] Adinolfi, Années de plomb, pp. 201–09.

^[17] Adinolfi, Années de plomb, pp. 200–01.

^[18] Adinolfi and Fiore, Noi Terza Posizione, p. 26.

^[19] Adinolfi and Fiore, Noi Terza Posizione, p. 26.

^[20] Adinolfi and Fiore, Noi Terza Posizione, p. 19.

^[21] Adinolfi and Fiore, Noi Terza Posizione, p. 19.

^[22] Adinolfi, Années de plomb, p. 20.

^[23] The reconstructed timelines contained in this chapter were compiled based on Adinolfi’s writings. See: Adinolfi and Fiore, Noi Terza Posizione; Adinolfi, Années de plomb; and Adinolfi, Gabriele. 2004. Nos belles années de plomb: Les nationaux-révolutionnaires italiens dans l’orage de la lutte armée et de l’exil. Paris: Dualpha (hereafter referred to as: Adinolfi, Nos belles années de plomb).

^[24] Adinolfi, Années de plomb, p. 16.

^[25] Adinolfi and Fiore, Noi Terza Posizione, p. 83.

[26] Sawer, Patrick. 2023. “Italian Terror Suspect Who ‘Spied for MI6’ Was Given Safe Haven in UK.” The Telegraph, April 1. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/01/italian-terror-suspect-safe-haven-uk-mi6/ (hereafter referred to as: Sawer, “Italian Terror Suspect”).

[27] Sawer, “Italian Terror Suspect.”

[28] Provenzani, Sabrina, and Stefano Vergine. 2023. “Il neofascista Roberto Fiore smentito dall’Interpol.” Il Fatto Quotidiano, January 30. https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/in-edicola/articoli/2023/01/30/il-neofascista-roberto-fiore-smentito-dall-interpol-viveva-con-gilberto-cavallini/6954219/; Searchlight. 2023. “Key Evidence of Fascist Terrorists’ Activities in London to be Kept Classified.” Searchlight Magazine, March 3. https://www.searchlightmagazine.com/2023/03/key-evidence-kept-classified/ (hereafter referred to as: Searchlight, “Key Evidence”).

[29] Searchlight, “Key Evidence.”

^[30] Adinolfi and Fiore, Noi Terza Posizione, p. 84.

^[31] Adinolfi and Fiore, Noi Terza Posizione, p. 88.

^[32] Adinolfi, Années de plomb, p. 29.

^[33] Adinolfi, Années de plomb, p. 103.

^[34] Rol, Christian. 2015. Le roman vrai d’un fasciste français: Vie et mort de l’homme qui tua Pierre Goldman et Henri Curiel. Paris: La Manufacture de Livres.

^[35] Although he does not name them, it is possible these men could be Fabrice Robert (later of Bruno Mégret’s Movement National Républicain) or Fabrice Sorlin. Adinolfi, Années de plomb, pp. 110–11.

[36] For more on GUD and its related Franco-Italian connections, see: Schir, Périne. 2024. “The French Groupe Union Défense and the Italian Far Right: Four Generations of Transalpine Cooperation.” Illiberalism Studies Program (blog), George Washington University. https://www.illiberalism.org/the-french-groupe-union-defense-and-the-italian-far-right-four-generations-of-transalpine-cooperation/.

[37] Heaton, Colin D. 2020. “Interview: Léon Degrelle / Belgian Volunteer in the Waffen SS.” HistoryNet, March 3. https://www.historynet.com/interview-belgian-volunteer-in-the-waffen-ss/.

^[38] Adinolfi and Fiore, Noi Terza Posizione, p. 21.

^[39]Adinolfi, Années de plomb, p. 97.

^[40] De Benoist, Alain. 2023. Martin Buber: Théoricien de la réciprocité. Via Romana.

^[41] Adinolfi, Années de plomb, p. 215.

^[42] Their occupation was not necessarily a novel strategy, as the establishment of right-wing “social centers” in occupied buildings stretches back to at least the 1980s in Italy. Furthermore, their actions came on the heels of two similar occupations undertaken the year before. In July 2002, a group of neofascist youth occupied an abandoned farmhouse on the outskirts of Rome (via Tibernia) and established Casa Montag (named after Guy Montag, the protagonist of Ray Bradbury’s 1953 dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451). Likewise, in September 2003, a cadre occupied a former public recreation center in Rome (via Capo D’Africa) and established Foro 753. For more on the history of right-wing social centers, see: Di Tullio, Domenico. 2006. Centri sociali di destra: Occupazioni e culture nonconformi. Rome: Castelvecchi. For more on Casa Montag and Foro 753, see: Occhipinti, Marco. 2004. “Il centro sociale? Anche di Destra Ecco le Occupazioni Non Conforme.” La Repubblica, January 25. https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2004/01/25/il-centro-sociale-anche-di-destra-ecco.rm_033il.html.

^[43] Adinolfi, Années de plomb, p. 214.

^[44] http://www.gabrieleadinolfi.it/agenda.html.

^[45] Adinolfi, Années de plomb, p. 214.

^[46] Adinolfi, Années de plomb, p. 213–14.

^[47] Adinolfi, Années de plomb, p. 90.

^[48] http://www.gabrieleadinolfi.it/agenda.html.

^[49] http://www.mutuosociale.org/progetto.html.

^[50] Mathieu, Mathilde, and Marine Turchi. 2014. “Micro-parti de Le Pen: L’enquête élargie au financement de la présidentielle 2012. Mediapart, December 4. https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/041214/micro-parti-de-le-pen-l-enquete-elargie-au-financement-de-la-presidentielle-2012.

^[51] At its founding, CasaPound forged a bond with Pino Rauti’s party, Tricolor Flame Social Movement. CasaPound members regularly ran on the party’s lists until their falling out in 2008.

^[52] While never electing its own members, in the 2014 European Parliament elections, CasaPound endorsed Lega Nord candidate Mario Borghezio [b. 1947], who won and served through 2019.

^[53] NA. 2019. “Casapound, Iannone: ‘Finita esperienza di partito, torniamo movimento.” La Repubblica, June 27. https://www.repubblica.it/politica/2019/06/27/news/casapound_torna_movimento_iannone-229739363/.

^[54] Castelli, Pietro, and Caterina Froio. 2014. “Discourse and Practice of Violence in the Italian Extreme Right: Frames, Symbols, and Identity-Building in CasaPound Italia.” International Journal of Conflict and Violence 8(1): 154–70.

^[55] Guerra, Nicola. 2024. “Foreign Fighters from the Far Right and Extreme Left in the Russia-Ukraine Conflict.” Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict 17(1): 44–70. doi: 10.1080/17467586.2024.2305465.

[56] ANSA. 2023. “21 CasPound Members Arrested at Athens Airport.” ANSA, November 1. https://www.ansalatina.com/english/news/2023/11/01/21-casapound-members-arrested-at-athens-airport_918250b4-252e-4cae-9867-08877b694779.html; Lavelle, Moira. 2023. “After Golden Dawn’s Demise, A Dangerous New Far Right Flourishes in Greece.” Al Jazeera, November 4. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/4/greek-far-right-new-era.

^[57] Centro Studi Polaris maintains an active web presence, including its website: https://www.centrostudipolaris.eu/; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PolarisCentroStudi; X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2Fpolarisstudi; Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/polarisstudi/; and YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/centrostudipolaris.

[58] The information contained in Box 1 comes from the agenda on Adinolfi’s website: http://www.gabrieleadinolfi.it/agenda.html.

^[59] Adinolfi’s agenda of speaking events lists numerous such appearance, such as those on January 11, 2008, and February 1, 2008.

^[60] https://www.centrostudipolaris.eu/la-rivista/.

^[61] Locchi is also the son of Giorgio Locchi (1923–92), one of the original founders of GRECE.

^[62] Scianca was the Culture Manager of CasaPound from 2012 to 2020. He has also been the managing director of the organization’s newspaper, Primato Nazionale, since 2013. He has also served on the editorial board of Secolo d’Italia, which served as the newspaper of the MSI.

^[63] The videos can still be found on the Centro Studi Polaris YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@centrostudipolaris.

^[64] https://csmrsi.wordpress.com/.

^[65] For Casaggì’s web and social media presence, see: https://casaggi_firenze.bio.link/.

^[66] Renzi, Valerio. 2023. “Casaggì.” S’è Destra, March 17. https://sedestra.substack.com/p/casaggi-il-catechismo-neofascista (hereafter referred to as: Renzi, “Casaggì”).

^[67] Renzi, “Casaggì.”

^[68] N.A. 2020. “Casaggì: Sospesi fra nazismo e destra istituzionale.” Patria Indipendente, March 6. https://www.patriaindipendente.it/primo-piano/casaggi-sospesi-fra-nazismo-e-destra-istituzionale/ (hereafter referred to as: N.A., “Casaggì”).

^[69] Lomonaco, Marco. 2019. “I ribelli per eccellenza di Passaggio al Bosco.” Cultura Identità, May 31. https://culturaidentita.it/ribelli-per-eccellenza-di-passaggio-bosco/. See also: N.A., “Casaggì.”

^[70] https://www.kulturaeuropa.eu/.

^[71] Adinolfi, Gabriele, 2023. Desafío al futuro: Gabriele Adinolfi y los Lansquenetes de Europa. Tarragona: Ediciones Fides: p. 175, 177–78 (hereafter referred to as: Adinolfi, Desafío al futuro).

^[72] Adinolfi, Desafío al futuro, pp. 27–28.

^[73] https://www.eurhopethinktank.eu/articles/report-of-our-meeting-in-transylvania.

^[74]Adinolfi, Desafío al futuro, pp. 166–67.

^[75] https://www.foiaresearch.net/person/pascal-lassalle.

^[76] As reported by: Tipaldou, Sofia. 2015. “The Dawning of Europe and Eurasia? The Greek Golden Dawn and Its Transnational Links.” In Eurasianism and the European Far Right: Reshaping the Europe-Russia Relationship, ed. Marlene Laruelle, 193–219. Lanham, MD: Lexington. Adinolfi’s personal agenda lists the title of the event as “Golden Dawn and the Repression.”

^[77] Borràs, Jordi. 2016. “Diccionari de l’extrema dreta a Catalunya, de la A a la Z.” Critic, May 31. https://www.elcritic.cat/investigacio/diccionari-de-lextrema-dreta-a-catalunya-de-la-a-a-la-z-10335.

[78] https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=XpMuP-YJCvY.

^[79] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsknecht.

^[80] Adinolfi, Desafío al futuro, p. 177.

^[81] https://www.eurhopethinktank.eu/about-us.

^[82] https://www.eurhopethinktank.eu/fr/about-us.

^[83] https://www.eurhopethinktank.eu/articles/new-beginnings.

^[84] Global Project Against Hate and Extremism: https://globalextremism.org/france/#Terre%20et%20Peuple.

^[85] https://tierraypueblo.blogspot.com/.

^[86] Rivera, Ellen. 2004. “Academia Christiana: A Marriage of the Catholic and the Extreme Right.” Illiberalism Studies Program (blog), February 5. https://www.illiberalism.org/academia-christiana-a-marriage-of-the-catholic-and-the-extreme-right/.

^[87] Barthélemy, Hélène. “At the Iliade Institute, French Far-Right Intellectuals Rewrite European History.” Southern Poverty Law Center, April 17. https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/04/17/iliade-institute-french-far-right-intellectuals-rewrite-european-history.

^[88] Adinolfi, Desafío al futuro, p. 135–36.