When Chi magazine published a photograph of Matteo Salvini’sfiancée Elisa Isoardi passionately kissing another man in Ibiza last year – the cover was emblazoned with the words “She loves another!” – it could have been shrugged off as typical tabloid fodder meant to embarrass a politician.
In Rome however, it was seen as something else: a hit job by the former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi – who owns Chi – against Salvini, the far-right leader who is also Berlusconi’s key centre-right coalition partner as Italy heads to the polls in national elections next week.
Berlusconi and Salvini – who has transformed Lega (League, formerly the Northern League) from a fringe party to a major political force – have since buried the hatchet, presenting a more unified image to voters than their rivals on the left. While Lega historically focused its vitriol on southern Italians, calling them lazy and a drag on the rest of the country, Salvini – who dropped Nord from Lega Nord to distance himself from the party’s secessionist roots – has even gained support in the south with his persistent attacks on African migrants, who he has claimed are invading Italy.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
