Rachele Mussolini leaves Fratelli d'Italia, citing her more liberal positions and claiming that Meloni's party is too far to the right.

Rome councillor Rachele Mussolini, granddaughter of Italy's wartime dictator, has swapped the right-wing Fratelli d'Italia (FdI) party of premier Giorgia Meloni for the centre-right Forza Italia.

Mussolini, 50, told La Repubblica newspaper that the move was due to her more liberal positions on issues such as abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, saying that she had "a different sensitivity on rights" compared to the FdI whose stance is "too right-right".

The councillor, who won the most votes in Rome's municipal elections in 2021, said she also has differing views on the ius scholae reform to grant Italian citizenship to the children of migrants once they have completed mandatory schooling in Italy.

Mussolini's move to Forza Italia, founded by former three-time premier Silvio Berlusconi, comes a few weeks after the party's leader Antonio Tajani declared himself in favour of the ius scholae citizenship reforms, sparking friction with right-wing coalition partners FdI and Lega.

Elected a city councillor in 2016, on a civic list supporting Meloni, Mussolini ran in the 2021 election on an FdI ticket, winning a landslide 8,200 first preferences.

Named after the fascist dictator's first wife, Rachele is the daughter of actress Carla Maria Puccini and jazz pianist Romano Mussolini, the youngest son of Il Duce, Benito Mussolini.

She is the half-sister of former far-right politician Alessandra Mussolini who in recent years has dropped her former anti-gay rhetoric to become an unlikely advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.

Photo Rachele Mussolini - Facebook