"WITH A massive 16th century fortress at his back and an adoring crowd at his feet, Gianfranco Fini outlined his law-and-order recipe for a stronger and safer Italy.

"We want to guarantee Italians the rights that the centre-left has denied, starting from the fundamental rights to security and legality," said the 49-year-old leader of the neo-fascist Alleanza Nazionale party, the man lined up to be Silvio Berlusconi's right- hand man if the centre right coalition takes power in next Sunday's election.

During his whistle-stop campaign tour of Italy's heel, Puglia, Mr Fini told a piazza full of supporters at Lecce:

"Law and order are not two obsessions of the right but a test of the credibility of a state."

Mr Fini, who is tipped to become Deputy Prime Minister in a Berlusconi- led administration, promised to boost police numbers, pay and conditions, to "fight widespread criminality, that is making Italians feel insecure in their homes and streets" and to criminalise illegal immigrants.

Criticising the left-wing's "distorted concept of solidarity", he said: "Entering Italy illegally must become a crime, not just an administrative offence. We want those people who have come here illegally or who have committed offences to be sent home."

The tone was measured but there was no hiding the firmness of his intentions and the audience was receptive to the message. Puglia, with its long coasts, is one of the main entry points to "Fortress Europe" and with warm weather arriving, coastguard officials predict a new wave of "voyages of hope".

Mr Fini is a polished orator. He cut his teeth in the youth section of the MSI, the extreme-right party that upheld Italy's fascist tradition after the Second World War.

He became party head in 1987 and led the MSI to its transformation into the more mainstream right-wing Alleanza Nazionale. Totalitarianism and anti-Semitism were wiped out of the statute but not out of all followers' hearts.

There were no fascist salutes, swastikas or shaven heads in the piazza at Lecce but key rings with the inscription "The book and the gun make a perfect fascist" were a good seller. Though AN has tried to shake the fascist label, the Berlusconi-led Casa delle Liberta alliance has struck a controversial electoral pact with the tiny, unrepentant Fiamma Tricolore in Sicily.

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