How Giorgia Meloni built Italy's most stable government since Mussolini

Giorgia Meloni has become Italy's longest continuously serving prime minister since Mussolini - no small feat in a country that usually burns through leaders in under a year.

Once written off as a fringe far-right risk, she's since charmed Brussels and shared a book preface with Donald Trump. That was until Trump attacked the Pope and made a demeaning remark about her at the G7, and the honeymoon soured.

At home, she's just lost a referendum, wages are among the lowest in Europe, and a more radical challenger, retired general Roberto Vannacci, polling at eight per cent and rising, is squeezing her from the right.

Dr Marina Cino Pagliarello joins Global Roaming to unpack the split between Meloni's international and domestic image.

Guest: Dr Marina Cino Pagliarello, senior visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and senior research fellow at the European University Institute.

Mentioned in this episode: Giorgia Meloni Cuts the Hard Right a Path to Power, New York Times

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