During my early years as a student in Italy in the late 1980s, I would soak in the stories about war times told by my Italian friends’ parents and grandparents. I could see their faces in the characters of Neo-Realist movies shot in the years immediately following WWII. To me, they were superheroes. In my mind, they made the greatest sacrifices for their principles and morals when they refused to join the (historic) Fascist party. Many of them were partisans. Nearly all of those people are gone today.

My warm memories from those years make it all the more difficult to wrap my mind around what’s happening in Italy and Europe right now. In Germany, AfD, the extremist right-wing party previously shunned by mainstream politicians, is now positioned to govern an East German region. There are fears that the party’s rise is unstoppable at this point.

In my beloved Italy, a new extremist rightwing figure is on the rise: Vannacci, a former general who has essentially proposed that the historic Fascist party be reinstated. There’s even a chance that he will outflank the “post-Fascist” party established by premier Meloni. His policies align almost seamlessly with MAGA. His use of one of the Fascists’ notorious mottoes has become an Italian cultural flashpoint. When he says “me ne frego,” anglophone media has been translating it as “I don’t care.” In tone, attitude, and vibe (including historical vibe), it’s more akin to the MAGA motto “fuck your feelings.”

I’m doing a little bit of wine writing on the side these days as I focus on my writing and translation projects. But I still keep up with Italian politics and a few of my Italian friends from my years in wine. As Europe faces its most robust rightwing wave in a generation, Italian winemakers are dealing with one of the most challenging harvests in memory (remember the colossal EU heatwave this summer?).

I recently devoured one of the most moving pieces of wine writing I’ve ever read. It was by an Italian friend who’s facing tough times after a next-to impossible vintage. It’s like a metaphor for a burning Europe. Stay tuned: I’ll share an excerpted translation later this week.

Keep the faith!

Above: a plaque in Milan commemorating the death of a partisan at the hands of the Nazis.