Vannacci, a polarizing figure whose nationalist and anti-immigration views have sparked repeated controversy, is currently deputy secretary of the League. But weeks of internal tensions have pushed relations within the party to breaking point. He has described dictator Benito Mussolini as a statesman and said that the March on Rome in 1922, when the fascist party took power, “was not a coup, but nothing more than a street demonstration.”The rollout of his new party has not been without hiccups, however. In a statement, the right-wing think tank Nazione Futura (Future Nation) sought to distance itself from Vannacci’s initiative, saying there were similarities between the names and logos of the two groups. The think tank is led by Francesco Giubilei, a prominent figure on the Italian right.