Il Duce’s ‘fascist beach club’

DOZENS of Italians nostalgic for Benito Mussolini’s dictatorship are lounging at a self-proclaimed “fascist beach club” where bathing huts are decorated with pictures of Il Duce, signs exalt the gas chambers and sunbathers exchange stiff-armed salutes, la Repubblica newspaper disclosed yesterday.

Police officers from Italy’s Digos anti-terrorist unit, the equivalent of Britain’s Special Branch, raided the “Punta Canna” beach club at the Adriatic resort of Chioggia yesterday.

The police took photos and other evidence at the request of a Venice magistrate who has opened an inquiry into the far-right enclave.

Sources said owner Gianni Scarpa, 64, could be prosecuted for the offence of “apologia of fascism” and the club could be closed. Its features include “communiqués” broadcast over loudspeakers every 30 minutes praising Mussolini and attacking democracy.