From millennia, throughout the world, an empty seat has been used as a resonant symbol of someone’s permanent presence.
Now Italy has stepped into that tradition with a powerful gesture that embodies historical memory and a warning for the necessity of constant vigilance against the resurgence of the monster it created more than a century ago: fascism.
Call it techno fascism or neo-Nazism, developments at the present time are ringing alarm bells amid frantic calls to find ways of countering the worrying trend.
On May 27 all MPs were invited to gather in the House and focus on seat number 14. It was the one regularly occupied by Giacomo Matteotti, the Italian socialist MP who was assassinated by fascists on 10 June 1924.
Repeated warnings
It was from this seat that he repeatedly warned fellow MPs that Italy was in danger of sliding towards a fully- fledged dictatorship unless drastic measures could be taken to stop the wave of nationalistic propaganda used by Mussolini.
The aspiring dictator was playing on patriotic sentiments and false hopes to ignite resentments and social division, all erupting into massive disruption that was used as a springboard to bring fascism into power.
After a minute’s silence, enough time for MPs to ponder of the very last warning Matteotti gave on 30 May 1924, the seat he occupied was marked with his name and declared empty for ever.
It should have been an occasion for all MPs to be present. But someone took a picture of the benches reserved to the parties forming the current government coalition headed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Trip to the beach
As someone remarked, it shows that out of 115 MPs belonging to Meloni’s party, Brothers of Italy, less than ten were present at the ceremony. The vast majority had opted for better things to do. Maybe some had urgent business to attend; others rested at home or went on a trip to the beach.
“Not to show up doesn’t mean absence” Alessio Porcu, a journalist, observed “It is a silent declaration, convenient and cowardly in its ambiguity, but still a declaration.”
A similar feeling was expressed by Arturo Scotto, an MP of Partito Democratico, who took the photograph and posted it on X with the message “Today in the Chamber of Deputies a plaque was unveiled in memory of Giacomo Matteotti.
Not to show up doesn’t mean absence. It is a silent declaration, convenient and cowardly in its ambiguity, but still a declaration
Alessio Porcu, journalist
Number 14 will no longer be occupied. From here 102 years ago Matteotti denounced the crimes of fascism. He was killed. The benches of the Brothers of Italy MPs are empty. Shame!”
For all MPs to gather on this occasion would have been doubly significant considering that as recently as July 2025 the marble monument and plaques by the banks of the river Tiber in Rome where Matteotti was kidnapped were severely vandalized.
Inherited flame
Talking of symbols, there is another sign in Italy that acts as a permanent presence. It is that of the tricolour flame.
It is commonly understood as the flame inherited from the Movimento Sociale Italiano, the party that came about as the continuation of fascism after WWII and from which Meloni took inspiration as a militant in its youth wing.
Some take this flame to symbolize the one that burns on Mussolini’s tomb in Predappio.
That flame is nowadays displayed in the Brothers of Italy party literature and posters. It will doubtlessly appear across walls throughout Italy in the forthcoming elections whenever they take place.
Meanwhile in London a picture of Matteotti’s empty seat will be seen as part of the exhibition “Giacomo Matteotti, Voice of the Century” about to be reinstalled at Charing Cross Library, Westminster for the third consecutive year. The exhibition will remain open from 3d July until the end of October.
Maybe a minute’s silence facing seat 14?
