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Analysis
Gattuso and... Mussolini? Dictator's great-grandson is tearing up Serie A
4 min read
News
You wouldn't be able to tell from the name on the back of his jersey, but Lazio right-back Romano Floriani is the great-grandson of former fascist dictator Benito Mussolini - and he is currently in the midst of a breakout season in Serie A.
For a while, the 23-year-old appeared to be a wasted talent. The full-back, who understandably prefers to go by Romano rather than Mussolini, first burst onto the scene as a teenager in 2021 after starring in Lazio's youth setup.
He was tipped for a bright future, but as is often the case with young prospects, things didn't work out as planned. Despite being included in some first-team matchday squads here and there, Romano didn't actually make his senior debut for his club until this season.
After several years in Lazio's reserves, the right-back was loaned to Pescara in Serie C in 2023, followed by a stint at Juve Stabia in Serie B. Last season, he played alongside Jamie Vardy at Cremonese and made his breakthrough in the top flight.
Romano played just shy of 1,200 minutes in Serie A and produced three assists as Cremonese were relegated. There was no guarantee that Lazio would keep him around this summer, but they did, and it's a decision that is paying off handsomely.
A star in Gattuso's team
The 23-year-old started the season as backup to Adam Marusic under new coach Gennaro Gattuso, so he wasn't involved when the capital club's campaign got off to the worst possible start with a 2-0 Coppa Italia loss to Serie B side Mantova.
However, he was able to finally make his Lazio debut on matchday one in Serie A when he came on as a substitute for the injured Marusic after just 19 minutes. He hasn't given up his place in the team since.
Romano has started every subsequent game, meaning that he is now already more than halfway to matching his minutes total of the previous season - after just nine fixtures. The right-back has become an integral part of Gattuso's high-flying side.
Lazio have been the biggest surprise of the new season as they haven't lost since that embarrassing Coppa Italia defeat. They are still unbeaten in Serie A with eight wins and one draw and sit joint-top with Inter, who are starting to take notice of Romano.
Tuttomercatoweb claims that the Nerazzurri are monitoring the 23-year-old's performances amid the uncertain future of Luis Henrique, who was a target for Bournemouth in the summer and still has suitors outside of Italy.
Lazio are not expected to make life easy for their competitors, though, and it is also doubtful whether Romano would even be willing to leave. He has been with the Biancoceleste for a decade, having initially started out in the youth setup of city rivals Roma.
A "burdensome" name
Obviously, the elephant in the room is his family heritage. The Lazio star is actually named after his great-grandfather: his full name is Romano Benito Floriani Mussolini.
His mother, Alessandra, is the daughter of Benito Mussolini's youngest son, Romano, and has publicly defended the fascist dictator, who ruled Italy between 1922 and 1943. Mussolini was a key ally of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler before and during World War II.
He was summarily executed after being captured by communist partisans in 1945, and his corpse was later hung upside down in a public square in Milan. In 2019, actor Jim Carrey posted a cartoon of Mussolini's dead body on Twitter, which sparked an angry tirade from Alessandra.
Alessandra was previously a member of the European Parliament and has had ties to various conservative, far-right and neo-fascist movements and parties in Italy over the past four decades.
Romano, for his part, has insisted that he is not interested in politics, and the fact that he doesn't wear Mussolini on his jersey certainly suggests that he does not want to be associated with his great-grandfather.
Nevertheless, his family relations have caused a stir ever since he first burst onto the scene in 2021. The fact that he is on the books at Lazio, notorious for its problematic fanbase with ties to the far-right, and that he can play as a right-winger means that the jokes write themselves.
On Tuesday, Romano scored his first goal for Lazio in a crazy 6-2 victory over Sassuolo. Thankfully, it was an away game. His only previous senior goal came during his loan spell at Juve Stabia, and it was celebrated with "Mussolini" chants and fascist salutes from the crowd.
It's not far-fetched to suggest that the reaction will be similar should he ever score a home goal for Lazio. Football fans love to be edgy.
His name will always weigh heavily on him, but Romano is carving out a promising football career for himself, and the words of his former youth coach Mauro Bianchessi are starting to ring true: "The burdensome surname? I've never spoken to his parents, and the only thing that matters is whether a player deserves to play. Nothing else."
