Rome, July 20, 2026 – Roberto Vannacci as a leader sends the “barbarians” Elly Schlein, Giuseppe Conte, Laura Boldrini and Romano Prodi to death, destined for the lions’ jaws in the Colosseum. Alongside the former general is an ‘empress’ Giorgia Meloni and a consul Ignazio La Russa. The imaginative scene – full of clichés and vulgarities (among the characters is Vannacci’s wife, Camelia Mihailescu, who shows the condemned the middle finger) – is depicted in a video created with artificial intelligence and published by the self-styled ‘Robertus Vannaccius’, who mimics the historical epic genre. One of many who do political satire on the web, more or less successful.
Read more Where to eat the best gelato in the Marche? Here is the Gambero Rosso ranking
The epic scene
At the center of the frame, a Vannacci-Roman general from the Colosseum stands with a thumbs down towards political opponents, tied in the center of the arena. In front of them, a gladiator with the face of Giuseppe Barboni, the self-styled Vannacci entrepreneur who beat an Iraqi homeless man in San Benedetto del Tronto. In the video, the fighter holds a sickle in one hand and a hammer in the other. “With the sickle and hammer. The same sickle and hammer they never used,” shouts Vannacci before sentencing the prisoners to death. In the audience, Mario Draghi, Roberto Speranza and Beatrice Lorenzin can be recognized, horrified by the execution of their comrades.
The wrath of the opposition
One can certainly debate the questionable taste, but the video would not make news if Vannacci himself had not shared it on his social profiles. The ‘condemned’ Giuseppe Conte rages: “Do we have to prepare for the return of the mythology of violence, the rigid social hierarchy, like in the army? – thunders the president of the Five Star Movement –. We have already been through this in Italy. If you think you can intimidate us, know that you do not scare us.” For Conte, Vannacci conveys a message that “incites violence among the most fanatical. Is this the election campaign we are expecting? Is it with these people that Meloni, La Russa (also evoked in the video), Tajani and Salvini will make an agreement?”.
Criticism also comes from the PD. The first is from former Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin, also portrayed in the caricature videos. “Representing political opponents sentenced to death, amid the applause of the crowd, is not satire and not a provocation: it is a message that normalizes political violence and recalls the darkest pages of our republican history. Evoking the physical elimination of opponents means crossing a line that should never be crossed.” “I also appear in the video – she adds –. If the reason is the battle I led as Health Minister to defend vaccinations, then my answer is simple: I would fight that battle again tomorrow.”
The Democratic group leader in the Chamber, Chiara Braga, speaks of a “very serious message” and calls on the Meloni government to sanction: “In the face of images of this gravity, silence is not acceptable. Those with institutional responsibilities have the duty to distance themselves.”
The Duce’s granddaughter: “Violent and rambling”
But the video is not liked even on the right: It is “unacceptable, both for the extremely violent content represented and for the weighty offenses directed at the highest offices of the State – says the Forza Italia group leader in Rome, Rachele Mussolini, the Duce’s granddaughter, daughter of Romano and half-sister of former MEP Alessandra –. Between death sentences, vulgar gestures and disturbing delusions of omnipotence, the video is a hymn to the most absolute rambling that marks a very dangerous authoritarian drift.”
Vannacci’s reply: “They can’t handle satire”
All accusations that Roberto Vannacci does not digest: “They should take an antihistamine and they will feel better – comments the former general – Those who get angry are those of rights and freedoms, especially freedom of expression, who laugh out loud at Crozza and Luca and Paolo but can’t handle satire when it is proposed by Vannacci…. I have done nothing but republish a beautiful ‘science fiction and clearly unreal’ video present on the web.”
