Italy condemned for ‘tolerating’ sale of Hitler-branded wine

In a joint letter to the European Commission’s antisemitism tsar, Katharina von Schnurbein, they said Italy had been cast as “the hate-mongering wine waiter of Europe.”

The centre first called for a boycott of the wine range in 2013.

The Lunardelli winery in Veneto, in northern Italy, produces roughly 100,000 bottles as part of its so-called “‘historical” line, the centre said.

Dr Samuels first protested the marketing of so-called ‘Führerwein’ in 1995, and it was temporarily taken off the shelves.

In 2017 a draft law “to criminalize the propagation of images or contents of the Fascist, Nazi or related anti-democratic parties and ideologies” was passed in the Italian Parliament’s lower chamber.

It was later abandoned by the Senate, following dissolution of the legislature.

Dr Samuels and Dr Zacchiroli called on Ms Von Schnurbein “to bring this matter to the appropriate EU bodies and ensure that prompt action be taken by Italy.”

He said that while there were no Italian laws against “domestic sales of hate,” authorities must monitor its export to Germany and France, where there are such laws.