Musk effigy appears in same place where Mussolini's body was hung.

An Italian group of left-wing university students on Tuesday hung an effigy of Elon Musk upside down in Milan's Piazzale Loreto where dictator Benito Mussolini's body was displayed in 1945.

A photograph of the mannequin of the tech billionaire was posted on social media by the Cambiare Rotta student collective with the caption: "There's always room in Piazzale Loreto, Elon...".

The action comes amid a furore over an alleged fascist salute by the owner of X, Tesla and SpaceX at the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on Monday.

Musk's representative in Italy, Andrea Stroppa, published a picture on X of the gesture with the caption "Roman Empire is back, starting with the Roman salute", before swiftly deleting the post.

Amid a global outcry over the straight-armed salute, Musk tried to brush off the criticism, stating: "Frankly they need better dirty tricks. The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is soo tired".

Adopted by Mussolini's fascist regime in 1925, the stiff-arm Roman salute or "saluto romano" is a crime in Italy however it rarely results in any convictions.