URBI PROJECT - Gianfranco Baldini and Filippo Tronconi

URBI – Understanding the Rise of Brothers of Italy 

Responsabili Locali: Gianfranco Baldini e Filippo Tronconi

Altri membri: Davide Angelucci (Unitelma Sapienza), Jessica di Cocco (EUI and University College Dublin)

Abstract: The project analyzes and collects data on the origins and evolution of Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy). The data collection includes a survey of national and local elites, a dataset on the party’s institutional communication from its foundation to the present day, as well as specific reworkings of the main surveys focused on its electorate. Although primarily centered on the party, the project is designed in a comparative perspective, in order to grasp the specific features of the transformation of the Italian political system in a context marked by the rise of populism and the radical right. 

Empirical basis:

1) Expert survey with about 900 interviews. Data available on Dataverse at this address: https://doi.org/10.70122/FK2/V66TBL

2) A dataset of about 20,000 press releases by Fratelli d’Italia (2013–2025).

Keywords: far right, Italy, political parties, populism, post-fascism, conservatism

Project period: 2022 – present

Publications

Baldini, Gianfranco, Filippo Tronconi, and Davide Angelucci. 2022. “Yet Another Populist Party? Understanding the Rise of Brothers of Italy.” South European Society and Politics 27 (3): 385–405. https://doi.org/10.1080/13608746.2022.2159625.

Tronconi, Filippo, Davide Angelucci, and Gianfranco Baldini. 2025. “Exploring the Political Culture of Fratelli d’Italiawith a Novel Middle-Level Elite Survey.” Political Research Exchange, forthcoming.