An Italian man known as the “doctor of migrants” on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa has won a seat in Sunday’s European parliament elections, bucking a trend towards the extreme right across the south of the country.

Pietro Bartolo, who has dedicated years of his life to addressing the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean, stood in Sicily for the centre-left Democratic party (PD), which presented him on the campaign trail as the last defence against the anti-immigration rhetoric of the extreme right. He finished second, behind the candidate for Matteo Salvini’s far-right League.

Bartolo was born and raised on Lampedusa, a tiny island of around 6,000 people, and the closest point in Italy to the Libyan coast, from where many migrants and refugees hoping to reach Europe set off. It was once seen as a haven for migrants and refugees, but patience among many of its residents has worn thin in recent years.

Bartolo refuses to refer to Salvini by name, but refers to the rise of the League in Italy as a “tsunami”.

“We are in the midst of a freak wave of fascist forces,” the 63-year-old said. “I am grateful towards those who supported me. At the same time, I am very worried about the results reached by that other man, that guy who closes ports to rescue ships, that guy who wants to fine anyone who saves migrants.”

Matteo Salvini, the rise of whose League party was labelled a ‘tsunami’ by Bartolo. Photograph: Vincenzo Livieri/LaPresse via ZUMA Press/REX/Shutterstock

It has been four years since Salvini set foot in Sicily and issued a public apology on behalf of what was then the Northern League for years of abuse directed toward southern Italians by his once separatist party, which had long dismissed them as “parasites” dragging down the country.

It took riot police to protect him from the crowds in Palermo, who greeted him by throwing eggs and tomatoes on that visit in 2015.

But when Italians headed to the polls in European elections on Sunday, Salvini’s efforts to make amends in the south seemed to have paid off.

In Sicily it obtained 20% – a stunning result considering the party got just over 1% in the last European elections. Across the country it won a resounding 34% share of the vote, cementing its position as Italy’s biggest party.

The most shocking and painful result for Bartolo was the League’s showing on his own island of Lampedusa, where it took 45% of the vote.

“Of course it hurts,” said Bartolo. “But it’s also true that only 26% of the people of Lampedusa went to the polls. And I should also point out that my island, with just 6,000 inhabitants, has carried the weight of the migrant crisis for 30 years.”

Lampedusa was not the only pro-refugee stronghold that succumbed to the League. In the Calabrian town of Riace, which has become well known for its integration policies, the mayor, Mimmo Lucano – a sworn enemy of Salvini – revitalised his community by welcoming foreigners. The League obtained 30% of the vote there and is now the number one party in the town.

Refugees and migrants off Lampedusa, Italy. Photograph: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

“In the two cities that the left chose as anti-Salvini symbols, Riace and Lampedusa, the League came in first. The migrant question will be our first battle in Europe,” a jubilant Salvini assured the public during his press conference following the election.

Bartolo said he would take his fight for justice for migrants and refugees to the corridors of European power in Brussels and Strasbourg.

“I’ve heard that they [European politicians] no longer want NGOs to save migrants at sea. I want the same thing,” he said.

“I want to fight for a world in which there is no need to have NGOs at sea, in which migrants won’t have to risk their lives to reach Europe. I want a world in which migrants can reach our countries through humanitarian channels, on an aeroplane. I will fight in Europe for a world in which there is no need for physicians like me, who treat victims of war and rape that Europe no longer wants to accept.”