With just a few months to go before the opening of the next edition of Più libri più liberi, one of Italy’s leading events for small and medium-sized publishers, the fair finds itself at the centre of an unexpected controversy. The organisers have decided to require participating publishing houses to sign a declaration of adherence to “anti-fascist values” as a prerequisite for their participation.
The fair is due to take place in December 2026 at La Nuvola, Rome’s big conference centre built for the World Exhibition of 2008. Presented by the fair’s organisers as a ‘simple’ guarantee of compliance with the founding principles of the Italian Republic, this measure immediately sparked heated debate, coming across as a deliberately militant act. Recognising the founding principles of the Italian Republic is one thing, but the organisers of Più libri più liberi have framed it as an explicit endorsement of ‘anti-fascism,’ a catch-all term that has become an ideological marker of the left and the far-left. The declaration is now a prerequisite for applying to participate in the event.
This measure follows the controversies sparked last year by the presence of a small publishing house accused by its critics of promoting certain figures linked to the ideological world of historical fascism.
The reaction from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was swift. On social media, she denounced what she described as an “anti-fascism certificate,” arguing that it amounted to a form of censorship incompatible with a democratic society. In her view, this logic amounts to saying: “You are free to think, but only within the limits defined by those organising the debate.”
Meloni’s opponents immediately hit back. For them, this is by no means a matter of censorship but simply a reminder of Italy’s constitutional principles. Left-wing politicians, as well as representatives from civil society organisations, argue that requiring explicit adherence to anti-fascism simply serves to recall the historical foundation of the Italian Republic, born out of the fall of Mussolini’s regime.
Meloni’s reaction is nonetheless entirely legitimate: should a liberal democracy require citizens or cultural figures to produce ideological certificates to participate in public life? The prohibition of the glorification of crimes, incitement to hatred, or totalitarian propaganda is already regulated by law, but the requirement for a prior declaration of allegiance follows a different logic, since it does not penalise behaviour but demands adherence or authorisation. Under the guise of good democratic intentions, the fair’s organisers are thus treating freedom of expression not as a right but as a concession subject to authorisation. Coming from cultural circles that traditionally present themselves as defenders of pluralism, this approach is rather irritating. A book fair is not a partisan conference.
The choice made by the fair’s organisers is not an isolated move. Across Europe, figures in the worlds of culture and the media, faced with the rise of ideologies they disapprove of, are succumbing to the temptation to substitute moral exclusion for intellectual debate and are transforming the fight against supposed extremism into a police state of opinions.
