Francesco Giubilei, president of the Giuseppe Tatarella Foundation and the Future Nation political movement, in Rome on January 30, 2025. SIMONA GRANATI/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES
From the wooden bookshelf that rises behind his desk, in the offices of the publishing house he has set up in an apartment in a quiet Roman residence, an unlikely trinity watched over Francesco Giubilei. Courteous and approachable, the 33-year-old intellectual, a close associate of Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and a central figure in Italian conservative nationalism, has placed three objects there that, together, represent a manifesto in and of themselves.
On the right sat an English edition of a work by Roger Scruton, a British intellectual who stands as a key reference for the international conservative movement. Scruton championed local attachment and natural hierarchies and, at times, acted as a lobbyist for the tobacco industry. In the center was a portrait of Benedict XVI, the German former pope who was known for denouncing cultural relativism and lauding Western civilization. On the left was a recently added work, an anthology of speeches by the American influencer Charlie Kirk, a propagandist who touted white evangelical Christian nationalism.
