Italian Serie A:  Paolo Di Canio, the Lazio forward who has become the darling of the neo-fascist right with his repeated straight-arm salutes, has been summoned by the mayor of Rome to listen to fellow Italians who survived the Nazi death camps.

A council official said the mayor, Walter Veltroni, had asked the entire Lazio squad to attend a meeting next Thursday. Asked if he expected Di Canio to turn up, the official said: "He is invited."

The move is part of an initiative by the mayor that has already brought AS Roma players and officials face to face with Holocaust survivors in the city hall. For almost two hours on Thursday, Francesco Totti and the other members of the Serie A side listened as former concentration-camp inmates appealed to them to stop playing as soon as they saw Nazi symbols in the crowd.

Veltroni said he had been shocked into doing something after learning that a swastika and two similar symbols had been hung from the terraces of Rome's Olympic stadium during Roma's game against Livorno on January 29th.

The mayor said he wanted to give players "a chance to learn of the gravity of what happened directly, in the words of those who endured the hell of the Shoah".

Although Roma has some far-right fans, it is the capital's other club, Lazio, and one of its supporters' groups, the Irriducibili or "Indomitables" who have been accused of racism and fascism.

Last December the Italian football federation fined and suspended Di Canio, a former member of the Irriducibili, for making the "Roman salute" in games against Livorno and Juventus.

Di Canio (right), who has described himself as "a fascist but not a racist", has played for Celtic, Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham and Charlton. He caused outrage in March last year by giving a straight-armed salute to Lazio supporters after a 3-1 victory over Roma.

Guardian Service