Campaigning is underway across Europe, with new members of the European Parliament being chosen between the 6th and 9th of June.

All 27 of the member states of the European Union will vote for the 720 seats that are up for grabs.

Far-right parties are expected to make big gains, having already won an election in the

Netherlands and a stake in the governments of Finland and Slovakia.

In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni is topping the polls.

The ruling party Brothers of Italy has roots in post-war fascism, but has moderated an office.

Our Rome correspondent Mark Lowen reports.

Milan 2024.

Not 1924.

A rally for a far-right student killed almost 50 years ago by the far-left.

The violence between the two sides has ended.

But in Italy, the birthplace of fascism, symbols, slogans, supporters live on.

This might seem extraordinary, but the thing is, in Italy, it isn't.

These kinds of demonstrations with the fascist salute happen across the country year in, year out.

And some of the images associated with the dark chapters of Italy's past still infuse the present.

From a funeral to a birthday party, fringe extreme groups like Forza Nuova operate here.

They often blend with die-hard football fans.

A senior member at this celebration shouts, who paid for this evening?

Who gave it to us?

Prompting the chant, we're a beautiful team in the shape of a swastika.

How great it is to be trained by Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess.

The party's leader denies Nazi sympathies, but...

Are you a fascist?

If you ask me like that, I probably would say yes, but I have to complete the term and say I'm a revolutionary.

This was a regime that deported Jews to death camps, that outlawed the opposition, that put political opponents in internment camps.

Are you denying that the fascist regime was violent and criminal?

Yes, absolutely, I deny it.

The internment camps are things that happened with the war.

The Americans did it, the Germans did it, the Italians did it, and so on.

No government has cracked down, but some think Giorgia Maloney is even less likely to.

She began in the neo-fascist youth, calling wartime dictator Benito Mussolini a good politician.

She's now moved her party away from the far right and is set to make sweeping gains in the European elections, a figurehead for Europe's other right-wingers.

But critics say she still winks at her roots.

Fascist Paolo Berizzi has lived under police protection for the past five years after neo-fascist threats.

The far right and neo-fascist groups felt validated with the Maloney government because battles and slogans that had been kept on the political sidelines for years suddenly became legitimized.

Giorgia Maloney doesn't define herself as anti-fascist.

When you cannot do so in a republic born from anti-fascism, it means you have a problem.

Her supporters say the destruction wrought by the anti-fascist movement over the decades is why she won't use that label.

Being anti-fascist during the fascism was a very brave act, a brave of freedom, a brave for democracy.

But after the falling of the fascism, being anti-fascist means violence, means a lot of young students killed.

We condemn the fascism, but more than this, it's an obsession.

So Italy's past echoes into its modern day, the line between historical tribute and glorification of crimes blurred.

And some fear what was once considered extreme is now mainstream.

Mark Lowen, BBC News, Rome.