She is Italy’s most powerful woman and the first right-wing populist to lead a European democracy. Tough at home, moderate abroad, she has been firmly in government for three years, a long time in Italian politics. Who is Giorgia Meloni, and how has she been so successful? The answer lies in the tight clan she has been part of since her youth…
DirectorBarbara Conforti
Her Beginnings
Feb 24, 2026
Who is Giorgia Meloni, the most powerful woman in Italy? In the early 1990s, a young Meloni met an unusual group of neo-fascists, who took inspiration from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and helped her rise to power.
Wielding Power
Feb 24, 2026
Becoming prime minister in October 2022, Giorgia Meloni seeks to reassure partners in the Europe and pursues a policy of normalisation. As a far right government becomes almost banal in Italy, is this a model other European democracies will follow?
