TIME Magazine Asia September 24, 2018 Back Issue

THE NEW FACE OF EUROPE
As evening fell on the town of AlzAno lombardo in northern Italy one Sunday in early September, about two thousand people crowded into a marquee tent. Anticipation grew as the announcer blared through a loudspeaker over the music, “Il capitano sta arrivando!”—The captain is coming! Il capitano was Italy’s Matteo Salvini—the farright Interior Minister whose rocketing rise over just six months has jolted Europe’s establishment and threatens to finally upturn a political system that has reeled under a populist surge for the past three years. When Salvini finally burst onto the stage after dark in jeans and his trademark green sneakers, the crowd was spellbound. For nearly two hours, a beer in one hand, he told the audience he would seize back control of their lives from the European Union’s faceless bureaucrats. “Italians first!” he shouted, to loud cheers.