Galeazzo Bignami, deputy minister of the Meloni government, and the old photo in a black shirt with the Nazi symbol – Corriere.it

Galeazzo Bignami will be Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport in the government of Giorgia Meloni, or the number two of Matteo Salvini. Perhaps his name is not familiar to most but a photo of him has already made the rounds of the internet and social networks, causing indignation. The image dates back to 2005. It was taken during a bachelorette party: Bignami is seen dressed in a black shirt, on his arm a sash with the symbol of the Nazi swastika.

Bignami, 46, from Bologna, lawyer, was elected to the Chamber with Forza Italia in 2018. The following year he would move to the Brothers of Italy. In the last round of elections it was confirmed with the party of Giorgia Meloni. In the past he had also had an experience in An. In recent years he has made a lot of preferences both in the municipal and in the regional ones.

In an interview given to the «Corriere» immediately after the vote on 25 September, when asked if he expected a role in the Meloni government, Bignami replied: «We have known each other for 30 years and we know what is good to do without having to agree».

Among the results he was most proud of is “having passed the Democratic Party in some sections in Bologna, in areas that when I was a child I knew through my father’s political activity and were considered almost off limits to the right . Seeing that today the majority of people reward Brothers of Italy, gives us the measure of change ». Bignami’s father, Marcello, was a column of the Bolognese right.

He says of the flame of the Italian Social Movement (MSI) that it has an “affective” meaning: “With my dad we have never loaded it with ideological meanings or even as someone who, ignorantly, attributed it to the period of fascism. It was the symbol of a community of people who worked for ideals. I always saw that flame when I accompanied my father around and that was my first gym, I listened, observed and there I learned the human relationship with people “.

“I even find it humiliating to have to respond to something that obviously is not so: for me Nazism is absolute evil,” he said in reply to the Corriere.