Giorgia Meloni and Matteo Salvini, the far-right protagonists of a coalition on course to win Italy’s general election this month, posed together in a warm embrace by the sea in Sicily last week in a show of unity.

Meloni, the Brothers of Italy chief who could become prime minister, and who in the past has likened the pair’s relationship to that of Romeo and Juliet, said: “The photo is the best response to the inventions by the left of alleged divisions.”