Italy Evicts Steve Bannon’s Group From Monastery

The Art Newspaper reports:

After a protracted legal battle, the Italian culture ministry has evicted Benjamin Harnwell, a British Catholic conservative, from the 13th-century Italian monastery where he planned to launch a right-wing political academy with Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon. The ministry is now enlisting a coalition of community groups to open the Certosa di Trisulti to the public and determine what purpose it should serve.

In 2018 the ministry awarded DHI a 19-year lease for the monastery as part of an initiative to involve the private sector in the management of Italian cultural sites. It revoked the lease a year later, citing irregularities in DHI’s application, after news emerged of Harnwell and Bannon’s plans to launch the Academy for the Judeo-Christian West, which would train recruits in politics, theology and philosophy.

Read the full article. Bannon has touted the project as “gladiator school” for the European far-right. Harnwell claims they’ll seek another location because they’ve gotten 5000 requests to attend the academy. Which is believable.

The Italian culture ministry has evicted Benjamin Harnwell from the 13th-century Italian monastery where he planned to launch a right-wing political academy with Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon https://t.co/o94qwNMXj4

— The Art Newspaper (@TheArtNewspaper) September 8, 2021