FdI seem completely nutty.
Do they seem more completely nutty than Lega to you?
My impression was that their rise was a reaction to Salvini becoming “too moderate” or “selling out.”
Mine has always been that their rise was a reaction to Salvini overplaying his hand and becoming a tired thing after his move in August 2020 spectacularly backfired. I don't think Salvini was seen as "selling out" at least until his party joined the Draghi government. I am not sure how many Italians see Lega as more moderate than FdI - I am not one of them in any case.
I don’t follow Italian politics closely, but there was an interesting article about it in the
Economist; also, their rise in the polls is a mirror image of Lega’s fall.
