Mussolini's great-grandson says ‘my name has never caused me problems' after Serie A transfer

New York Times

23-07-2025

Romano Floriani Mussolini, the great-grandson of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, said he wants to focus on football and not his family name after joining Serie A side Cremonese on loan.
The versatile 22-year-old, who primarily plays at right-back but also on the right-side of midfield, has joined the newly-promoted club on a season-long loan deal with an option to buy from his parent club Lazio.
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The footballer, who is also the son of Italian politician Alessandra Mussolini, said at his introductory press conference on Wednesday that he is 'here to play football' and reiterated that his surname 'bothers other people more than me.'
'My surname has never caused me any problems and, from my point of view, the less said about it, the better,' Mussolini said, in quotes carried by Italian press agency Ansa.
'I'm here to express myself on the pitch, nothing else'.
Mussolini spent last season on loan at Juve Stabia in Serie B, the second division of Italian football, and scored his first goal in December.
During the goal celebration, the stadium announcer called out his first name, 'Romano', seven times, with dozens of fans responding by chanting 'Mussolini' and appearing to give fascist salutes.
After that incident, Juve Stabia denied those were the gestures in a statement: 'When the name of the scoring player is announced, we raise our arms to the sky as a sign of the team that is in our heart and which represents the city. This was once again the case with this (Mussolini's) goal.'
Mussolini said that controversy was 'pointless' and said that he mainly talks about football, not politics, with his family.
'But I'd like people to talk about me only for how I play,' Mussolini added. 'I want to show what I can do and prove my value.'
Mussolini's father was Mario Floriani, a police officer, who alongside his mother agreed that their son would have two surnames — Floriani and Mussolini — of which he could choose which to use first when he became an adult.
Mussolini's mother said the Italian civil and church authorities had both agreed to this as an exception, as it was not until 2022 that Italy's top court ruled that children will be given their mother's and father's surnames at birth, with the previous practice of only giving children their father's surname 'constitutionally illegitimate'.
During his time at Juve Stabia, Mussolini opted to use 'F. Mussolini' as the name on the back of his shirt.
Mussolini previously played in the youth system at Roma before joining city rivals Lazio, while he also spent 2023-24 on loan at Pescara in Serie C.
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