Photo Gallery Commedia dell'Arte Meets Politics
All across crisis-hit Europe, voters are disillusioned with mainstream politicians and are turning to populist and radical parties. In Italy, the new rising force is comedian Beppe Grillo's grassroots Five Star Movement.
Grillo is known for his flamboyant style. Here, he prepares to dump rotten mussel shells in front of the parliament in Rome as part of an anti-government protest in September 2011.
Grillo's movement came from nowhere to notch up double-digit results in the recent local elections. In his native city of Genoa, it even became the third-strongest force. Here, the mussel stunt in Rome.
A carnival float pays tribute to Grillo (2008 photo). Grillo benefits from fears in the midst of the crisis, as he rages against the government's austerity measures and fuels hatred of the euro. And his strategy is working.
