Looking at today’s general election, it is tempting to view Italian politics through the lens of recent populist shocks. After the Brexit referendum, Donald Trump’s presidential win, and the rise of far-right parties around Europe, media have focused on the danger of a fresh upheaval in Italy.

Photos of militant fascist subcultures like CasaPound have been splashed across English-speaking dailies, and business press has warned of a fresh “crisis event” for the euro. The hard right’s strength is explained in terms of old tropes about Italy’s failure to get over World War II, or perennial backwardness, to present a picture of looming chaos.

The campaign has indeed been marked by a rise in racist sentiment. Even a fascist terror attack on African migrants did not weaken the polling position of the gunman’s former party, the hard-right Lega. Not just the Right but figures from the centrist Democrats and amorphous Five Star Movement (M5S) have adopted harsh rhetoric on migration and the need to defend the “Italian race.”