You report the rise of Gianni Alemanno, Rome’s just-elected mayor, with calm bemusement (“Right Back,” May 3, 2008). You buttress your report with a bright photograph of youthful Romans saluting their new mayor with arms raised straight up. A former neo-fascist, you call him. And then you calmly announce that his first move in power will most likely be the expulsion of so many immigrants encroaching upon his beloved city. Now, Italians are notoriously politically incompetent. Or simply hopeless. Ever since the end of World War II they have been gracefully allowed to forget their fascist past first by the victorious Americans and then by the bulk of subjugated Europeans. But fascism is hardly a joke. Italy is hardly a minor European country. A former neo-fascist is simply a fascist, as his first move makes plain enough. In short, former neo-fascism is a serious threat to the European Union you purportedly uphold. Just as was the case less than a century ago, it is likely to fuel much nastier political sentiments further north. Mark my words, former neo-fascism is fascism pure and simple. And the joke is on you.