Italy’s Meloni calls for unity on Liberation Day anniversary

By GIADA ZAMPANO
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has called for unity among political forces in celebrating the anniversary of the liberation from the Nazis and their fascist allies on April 25, 1945. She rejected accusations of fascism nostalgia within her far-right party. Meloni wrote in an open letter published on Tuesday in an Italian newspaper that she hoped that the celebrations could be an occasion of “renewed national concord.” Meloni’s hard-right Brothers of Italy party traces its roots to the fall of Italian fascism at the end of World War II. Allies and aides of the 46-year-old premier have been accused of downplaying wartime atrocities or distorting historical facts concerning the partisan movement that fought to liberate the country.