Rome  - Rome's newly elected Mayor Gianni Alemanno on Monday accused a British newspaper of "deforming" remarks attributed to him in an interview in which he appeared to praise dictator Benito Mussolini's fascist regime.

Alemanno was referring to an an article titled "Italy needed fascism, says the new Duce" published the day before by the London- based Sunday Times.

"The interview was deformed in a shameful way. I had been very clear, I expressed a historical judgement condemning fascism," Alemanno was quoted as saying by the Ansa news agency.

Alemanno, a former youth wing leader in the 1980s of the defunct neo-fascist Italian Social Movement, two weeks ago won the Rome mayorship for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party. He stood on a law-and-order platform.

Following his victory against centre-left candidate Francesco Rutelli in a run-off vote, some of Alemanno's supporters celebrated with the straight-armed fascist salute.

Alemanno, who has distanced himself from such displays, told The Sunday Times that despite never describing himself as fascist, in the 1970s and 1980s "we on the right believed fascism was substantially positive. Now we realize it was totalitarian and generally negative, it has to be condemned."

However, when asked if there was anything he would salvage from the 1922-43 period when Mussolini ruled Italy, Alemanno replied: "What's historically positive is the process of modernization - fascism was fundamental to modernizing Italy. The regime reclaimed much marshland; it set up the country's infrastructure."

On Monday, Alemanno reiterated his belief in the fascist regime's modernizing role saying it had been "attested by all historians".

"There's a will to constantly portray the capital's first mayor from the centre-right in a sinister way. Sadly certain newspapers, including in Italy, lend themselves to this scandalous operation," Alemanno said.

In the interview with the British newspaper, Alemanno also spoke of past brushes with the law, including arrests in the 1980s in connection with the assault on a left-wing activist and a Molotov cocktail attack on the Soviet Union's embassy.

The 50-year-old Alemanno stressed he had been acquitted on charges relating to both those incidents. (dpa)