Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini

Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini has called a conference of his National Alliance party

The conference on Saturday will be the first since the defection in November of one of the party's best known figures, Alessandra Mussolini.

Ms Mussolini, granddaughter of Italy's former fascist dictator, left after Mr Fini called fascism an "absolute evil".

The National Alliance is the second largest party in Italy's four-party coalition government.

Nevertheless, Mr Fini has been trying to move his party away from its fascist past into the respectable centre-right.

Conventional right-left distinctions do not always apply in Italy.