Alessandra Mussolini (born December 30, 1962) is an Italian conservative politician, previously an actress and model. She is the leader and founder of the national conservative political party Social Action; since 2003 Mussolini has also been a Member of the European Parliament.

Some of Mussolini's noted stances are in regards to social views on women and children's rights and role within both the family unit and society in general. A political journalist asserts that Alessandra has done much for women in Italy, as a strong uncompromising character, which is rare for a female in Italian politics.

Due largely to her family background, Mussolini also gains substantial support from the neo-fascist movement in Italy. She sometimes features on television shows debating with far-left politicians, such as communists. If and when these people make scathing personal attacks against the Mussolini name and her grandfather's entire period of rule, Alessandra defends herself, however it is still illegal to actually be a fascist politician today.

Personal life

Alessandra Mussolini was born in Rome, the daughter of Anna Maria Scicolone (from Pozzuoli, Province of Naples) and Romano Mussolini, the third son of the Fascist leader Benito Mussolini (from Forlì, Emilia-Romagna). The actress Sophia Loren is her aunt.

From 1976 to 1980 she went to high school at the American Overseas School of Rome. She graduated in 1986 from Università di Rimini, where she got her Master of Arts in film management.

She married customs police officer Mauro Floriani on 28 October 1989. They have three children, Caterina, Clarissa, and Romano Floriani. The children bear their father's surname, but she went through a complex legal process to allow them to attach her last name to theirs, and has campaigned for Italian law to be changed to allow all children to take their mother's last name should they so wish.

Entertainment career

Alessandra was taken under the wing of her aunt Sophia Loren for a while and started a career as an actress in the Italian language film industry during the 1970s. A Special Day (1977), in which she had a minor role as "Maria Luisa", won an American Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

During 1982, Mussolini released a pop music album of romantic songs under the title Amore on Alfa Records, the album was only released in Japan and has since become somewhat of a collectors item. Mussolini also appeared as a glamour model, including on the cover of two European editions of Playboy, in Italy (August 1983) and Germany (November 1983). "When you are an actress, you are dealing with the body. Every actress does topless and stuff like this; you have to.", she has said.

Mussolini continued as an actress into the 1980s. Some of the films she featured in were made for Italian television, however she still acted in standard cinematic films, such as The Assisi Underground where she played a nun, the movie focused on the Roman Catholic Church rescuing Italian Jews from the Nazis in 1943. She starred in her final film in 1990 and then left the film industry to continue studying, after a producer asked her to change her name, due to the film industry being "an industry that is traditionally connected to the left".

Political career

In 1992, she was elected to parliament in a Naples constituency as a member of the neofascist Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI). She was favorable to the idea of an alliance between MSI and Forza Italia with a view to the elections of 1994, but she opposed the liquidation of the MSI and the creation of the new National Alliance.

She later was a candidate for the post of mayor of Naples, but was defeated by Antonio Bassolino. Her relations with Gianfranco Fini, leader of the Alleanza Nazionale, never were very good, she announced; she then withdrew later, her resignation due to differences with him at least once. This antagonism was exacerbated when Fini criticized some aspects of fascism, such as its antisemitism. She unsuccessfully challenged him for leadership of the party when he withdrew support for Benito Mussolini in a television interview in January 2002.

Mussolini suddenly left National Alliance on 28 November 2003, following the visit of party leader and the Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini to Israel, where he described fascism as "the absolute evil" as he apologised for Italy's role as an Axis Power during the Second World War. Mussolini however defended the right of Israel to exist and declared that the world "should beg forgiveness of Israel".

Following her resignation, Mussolini formed her Social Action party, originally named "Freedom of Action", and organized a far right coalition named Social Alternative. That was a surprising move, as Mussolini, during her political career, had always taken progressive stances on many issues, including abortion, artificial insemination, gay rights and civil unions. She has been an outspoken "feminist" and has been described by conservative commentators as a "socialist" and a "left-winger".

On 22 July 2004 she said in Strasbourg:

I know the English have a sense of humor about themselves, but I am from Naples and I can say that we women do know how to cook and clean the refrigerator and even be politicians, while perhaps Godfrey Bloom does not know either how to clean the refrigerator or how to be a politician

In March 2005, Mussolini was banned by a local court from regional elections held the following month for presenting fraudulent signatures. "This is an affront to democracy, if they're going to exclude the Social Alternative they will have to exclude all the parties, because all the signature lists are false", Mussolini told Reuters. Mussolini went on a hunger strike to protest the decision. However, at the end of the month Italy's top administrative court, the Council of State, annulled the decision and she stood for election.

In 2006 she responded to criticism by trans-gender Italian M.P. candidate Vladimir Luxuria, with a line "Meglio fascista che frocio", that has been roughly translated as "It is better to be a fascist than a faggot." The Italian word used, "frocio", is considered an insult referring to one's buttocks.

In November 2007, remarks by Mussolini triggered the collapse of the far-right Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty grouping within the European Parliament. Mussolini declared that all Romanians were criminals in remarks regarding immigration policy. This prompted delegates from the Greater Romania Party to quit the group, bringing the group below the minimum number of members to qualify as a caucus and receive Parliament funding.

She was a member of following European Parliament committees and delegations:

* Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
* Delegation for relations with the Mashreq countries
* Delegation to the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly

She also is an Honorary Member of the Italian Red Cross.

After the Italian general elections of April 2008 she serves as a member of the Italian parliament elected in Berlusconi's alliance or right wing parties.