Giorgia Meloni guides Italy's far-right to brink of power

As a youth activist she praised Mussolini, but as leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy, Giorgia Meloni has sought to detoxify her country's post-fascist movement -- and has brought it to the brink of power.

Opinion polls put Italy's right-wing coalition on course to take office after September 25 elections, with Meloni's party on top, making her a strong candidate to be the country's first female prime minister.

Small in stature, the 45-year-old cuts a sharp contrast with the men who normally dominate Italian politics, and both she and her party play heavily on her personal brand.

"I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian," she famously declared at a 2019 rally in Rome, while campaign billboards are dominated by her smiling face.

Meloni has benefited from being the only major party to stay out of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi's government over the past 18 months, allowing her to claim she can offer voters a fresh start.

Meloni helped co-found Brothers of Italy in 2012, although they only secured four percent of the vote in 2018, compared to current polling numbers of around 24 percent.

She was named minister for youth in Silvio Berlusconi's government, at 31 the youngest minister in post-war Italy.