Il Duce and His Women
Page 54
COSTANZO CIANO (1876–1939)
A war hero, Ciano was awarded a Gold Medal during the First World War and promoted to the rank of commander. During the Fascist period he became Minister of Communications and President of the Chamber of Deputies.
GALEAZZO CIANO (1903–44)
Galeazzo Ciano was the son of Commander Costanzo Ciano. In 1930 he married Edda Mussolini. In 1935 he was appointed Minister of Press and Propaganda and, the following year, Minister for Foreign Affairs. He voted in favour of the motion to strip Mussolini of his powers in July 1943, and was later tried and executed for treason by the forces of the Italian Social Republic.
AMILCARE CIPRIANI (1843–1918)
Cipriani was one of Garibaldi’s “redshirts” and took part in the Expedition of the Thousand in Sicily. An anarchist and revolutionary, he was forced to flee to London to escape imprisonment. There, he worked as a photographer and even produced a portrait of Queen Victoria.
ORSO MARIO CORBINO (1876–1937)
Corbino was a professor of experimental physics, first in Messina and then in Rome, where he directed the famous Via Panisperna Institute. He became a senator in 1920, Minister for Public Education in 1921 and Minister for the National Economy during the first Mussolini government. In 1935 he became president of the International Centre for Television in Nice.
FILIPPO CORRIDONI (1887–1915)
Corridoni was a syndicalist, a revolutionary socialist and a journalist. He became an interventionist and, though he suffered from tuberculosis, managed to enlist during the First World War and was sent to the front. He died during an attack on an Austrian trench.
ANDREA COSTA (1851–1910)
Costa was the founder of the Italian Revolutionary Socialist Party, one of the forerunners of the Italian Socialist Party. He had a relationship with the Russian socialist Anna Kuliscioff, which resulted in the birth of a daughter, Andreina, in 1881. The following year he became the first Socialist deputy in the Italian parliament. He became Gran Maestro Aggiunto of the Grand Orient of Italy. From 1908 to 1910 he was Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies.
BENEDETTO CROCE (1866–1952)
An internationally renowned philosopher and one of the main proponents of Italian liberalism, Croce became a senator in 1910 and Minister for Public Education in 1920. In 1925 he published the Manifesto degli intellettuali antifascisti (Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals). In 1938, when the Fascist regime was adopting the racial laws, Croce refused to fill in the racial-classification questionnaire sent to all university professors, and declared that he would rather be forbidden from teaching as a “supposed Jew”. After Mussolini’s removal from office in July 1943, he became Minister without Portfolio in the governments led by Pietro Badoglio and Ivanoe Bonomi. In 1946 he was elected to the Assemblea Costituente della Repubblica Italiana (Constituent Assembly of the Italian Republic), the institution created to draw up a constitution for the newly formed Republic of Italy.
GABRIELE D’ANNUNZIO (1863–1938)
A poet, novelist, playwright and political and military leader, D’Annunzio was given the sobriquet of “the Bard”. Among his numerous relationships, the most famous was with the celebrated actress Eleonora Duse. He was a volunteer during the First World War and took an active part in many daring missions. He led the seizure by Italian irredentists of the port of Fiume in September 1919, later declaring it an independent state when it became clear that he did not have the support of the Italian government. After the failure of this enterprise with the surrender of Fiume to the Italian authorities in December 1920, D’Annunzio retired to his villa in Gardone on Lake Garda.
GUIDO DA VERONA (1881–1939)
Da Verona was a poet and a commercially successful novelist. Jewish by birth, he was marginalized after the promulgation of the racial laws and later committed suicide.
ALCESTE DE AMBRIS (1874–1934)
De Ambris was a journalist and a major figure of revolutionary syndicalism. In 1913 he became a Socialist Party deputy. After enlisting as a volunteer during the First World War, he joined D’Annunzio in his Fiume expedition. He initially supported Mussolini, but later became an anti-Fascist and escaped to France, refusing Mussolini’s various offers to return and cooperate with the Fascist regime.
EMILIO DE BONO (1886–1944)
De Bono became a general at the end of the First World War. He joined the Fascists and was the most senior of the quadrumviri during the March on Rome. Mussolini appointed him General Director of Public Security. He was Governor of Tripolitania from 1925 to 1928 and became Minister of the Colonies in 1929. He was at the head of the Italian army during the first stage of the invasion of Ethiopia. He voted against Mussolini during the Grand Council meeting on 25th July 1943. During the Italian Social Republic he was captured and, along with others accused of betraying the Duce, tried for treason and sentenced to death, in what became known as the “Verona trial”.
RENZO DE FELICE (1929–96)
De Felice was one of the leading Italian historians and is regarded as the greatest expert in Fascist studies. Having studied under Federico Chabod, he joined the Communist Party and, after the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, moved to the Socialist Party. He taught at the universities of Salerno and, later, Rome, where he specialized in contemporary history and the history of political parties.
GIUSEPPE DE FELICE-GIUFFRIDA (1859–1920)
A Socialist and a supporter of the Sicilian Workers’ League, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1892. He became Mayor of Catania in 1902 and took on an interventionist stance during the First World War.
ALCIDE DE GASPERI (1881–1954)
A political leader and journalist, De Gasperi became a deputy representing the Trentino region in the Austrian parliament in 1911, and was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies ten years later, after Italy’s annexation of Trentino in 1919 as part of the post-war settlement. He founded, along with Don Luigi Sturzo, the staunchly Catholic People’s Party (later reorganized as the Christian Democrats). A fierce anti-Fascist, De Gasperi was arrested and imprisoned in 1927. After Mussolini’s removal from office in July 1943, he became Minister without Portfolio, later Minister for Foreign Affairs, finally becoming Prime Minister in December 1945, a post he held during the period of constitutional transition that followed the end of the war, making him the first head of government of the Italian Republic. He is considered one of the fathers of post-war Italy and of the European Union.
ENRICO DE NICOLA (1877–1959)
A lawyer and a political leader, De Nicola was President of the Chamber of Deputies from 1920 to 1924 and President of the Senate from 1951 to 1952. Following the fall of the monarchy the Constituent Assembly elected him interim Head of State in 1946. He was President of the Constitutional Court from 1956 to 1957.
ARDITO DESIO (1897–2001)
A geologist and explorer, Desio was a volunteer during the First World War. A professor of geology at the University of Milan, he took part in various expeditions, including, in 1954, the Italian-led mission to the top of K2.
ENGELBERT DOLLFUSS (1892–1934)
Dollfuss was Austrian Chancellor from 1932 to 1934. He had close ties with Mussolini and was the founder of Vaterländische Front, a Fascist-inspired party. He strove to avoid Austria’s becoming part of Hitler’s Germany, and was assassinated by Nazi agents.
EUGENIO DOLLMANN (1900–85)
Dollmann was a colonel in the SS, directly appointed by the Führer. He was Hitler’s interpreter and a Third Reich secret agent, as well as an expert on Italian art. After the war he received support and protection from the American and Italian secret services.
AMERIGO DUMINI (1894–1967)
An American citizen born to an Italian father, Dumini was a volunteer in the Italian army during the First World War. According to the Sardinian writer Emilio Lussu, he loved to present himself as “Amerigo Dumini, eight homicides”. He led the Cheka squad that killed the socialist leader Giacomo Matteott
i in 1924, a crime for which he initially received a five-year prison sentence – although he was amnestied by Mussolini after only eleven months. After the war he was tried again, this time receiving a life sentence (although he was released from prison in 1953).
LUIGI FACTA (1861–1930)
Facta was the last prime minister of Italy before the advent of Mussolini. He served as a deputy from 1892, becoming prime minister in 1922. He did not oppose Fascism and was appointed senator in 1924.
ENRICO FALCK (1899–1953)
An industrialist close to the lay Roman Catholic association Azione Cattolica (Catholic Action), Falck was involved in anti-Fascist activities and was one of the founding members of the Christian Democrat party, becoming a senator in 1948.
ROBERTO FARINACCI (1892–1945)
A journalist by profession, Farinacci worked on the railways for a long time, following the same path from socialism to Fascism trod by Benito Mussolini. He was elected as a deputy in 1921. He was known as the Cremona ras, and embodied the most violent side of Fascism, which routinely employed beatings and force-feedings of castor oil. After obtaining (through a purchased thesis) a degree in jurisprudence, he acted as the defence lawyer for Amerigo Dumini during the latter’s first trial for the killing of Giacomo Matteotti. Captured by the Partisans, he was executed on 28th April 1945.
LUIGI FEDERZONI (1878–1967)
A journalist, lawyer and intellectual, Federzoni was one of the founders of the Italian Nationalist Association. From 1923 to 1928, he was a minister in the Mussolini government, later becoming President of the Senate (1929–39). He was among those who signed against Mussolini during the Grand Council session on 25th July 1943. He was condemned to life in prison in 1945, but was amnestied two years later.
FILIPPO FILIPPELLI (1889–1961)
A lawyer and journalist, Filippelli was the founder of the newspaper Corriere italiano. He provided the car used in the killing of Giacomo Matteotti and wrote a memoir in which he criticized Mussolini.
ALDO FINZI (1891–1944)
The son of a wealthy Jewish family, Finzi was baptized and given a Catholic education. A volunteer during the First World War, he took part, together with Gabriele D’Annunzio, in a flying mission over Vienna for the distribution of propaganda leaflets. He joined the Combatants’ Leagues in 1920 and accompanied D’Annunzio on his Fiume expedition. He opposed the racial laws and was expelled from the Fascist Party. He later joined the Partisan movement in Rome. He was captured and executed by the Nazis in the massacre at the Fosse Ardeatine in March 1944.
GIOVACCHINO FORZANO (1883–1970)
A lawyer, journalist, playwright and film director, he was a friend of Mussolini and wrote libretti for Mascagni, Puccini and Leoncavallo.
GIOVANNI FRIGNANI (1897–1944)
Frignani was Lieutenant Colonel of the carabinieri and was posthumously awarded a Gold Medal for heroism after his death in the Fosse Ardeatine massacre. He arrested Mussolini after the Duce had been ousted on 25th July 1943. He organized a clandestine resistance group of those Roman carabinieri who had escaped the deportation order issued by the Germans on 7th October 1943.
GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI (1807–82)
The famous patriot, soldier and condottiere, known as the Hero of the Two Worlds – the most important figure of the Italian Risorgimento.
PIETRO GASPARRI (1852–1934)
Gasparri was the Secretary of State for the Vatican. Having taken his religious orders in 1877, he taught ecclesiastical history and theology and was ordained as a cardinal by Pius X in 1907. Together with Mussolini, he was a signatory of the Lateran Pacts on 11th February 1929.
PIETRO GAZZERA (1879–1953)
As a general, Gazzera took part in the war between Italy and Turkey and the First World War. He was the Minister of War from 1929 to 1934, when he became a senator. He commanded the Italian army in Ethiopia and Somalia during the Second World War and was a commissar for the prisoners of war after the Armistice on 8th September 1943.
VITO GENOVESE (1897–1969)
Vito Genovese was the head of one of the most important Mafia families of the American branch of Cosa Nostra. After emigrating to the United States with his parents in 1913, he was arrested for the first time in 1915 and later became a close friend of Lucky Luciano, the “capo di tutti i capi” (“boss of all bosses”). Wanted by the New York police, he escaped to Italy in 1937. After Mussolini’s removal from power in 1943, Genovese became the official interpreter for Colonel Charles Poletti, a former Governor of New York who had been sent to Italy by the Allies to facilitate a return to civil government.
GIOVANNI GENTILE (1875–1944)
A famous philosopher and the Professor of Theoretical Philosophy and History of Philosophy at Palermo and subsequently Pisa and Rome, Gentile was responsible for attempting to codify Fascist ideology in the Manifesto degli intellettuali del Fascismo (Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals), written in 1925. He was Minister for Public Education during the first Mussolini government, instituting a programme of reforms that had a profound influence on the Italian educational system. He became more and more detached from Fascism following a series of disagreements, especially on the question of the Lateran Pacts. However, he decided to join the Italian Social Republic after 8th September 1943, and was killed by a Partisan commando on 15th April 1944.
GIOVANNI GIOLITTI (1842–1928)
A liberal politician, Giolitti obtained a degree in jurisprudence when he was only nineteen years old. He was first elected as a deputy in 1882 and became Minister of the Treasury in 1889 and Prime Minister in 1892. He subsequently took on several other ministerial roles and was five times prime minister, the last time in 1920.
MARIA GIUDICE (1880–1953)
A Socialist and primary-school teacher, Giudice became secretary of the Voghera Workers’ Association in 1903. She lived in exile in Switzerland for fifteen months, and on her return to Italy the following year she became provincial secretary for the Socialist Party in Turin. She was arrested several times for her anti-Fascist activities and retired from politics in 1941.
RAMÓN GÓMEZ DE LA SERNA (1888–1963)
A Spanish writer and the figurehead of Spanish Futurism, the prolific Gómez de la Serna wrote his first book when he was ten and published his first work at the age of sixteen.
EMMA GRAMATICA (1874–1965)
A famous theatre actress, Gramatica was involved in numerous radio programmes for EIAR (later RAI). She also had a successful career in cinema and television.
RODOLFO GRAZIANI (1882–1955)
During his career General Rodolfo Graziani was Governor of Libya, Viceroy of Ethiopia and, during the Italian Social Republic, Minister of War. He became infamous for cruel and bloody repressions in Libya and Ethiopia. He was one of the subscribers to the Fascist Racial Manifesto. After the war he was sentenced to nineteen years in prison, of which he only served two. He was appointed honorary president of the neo-Fascist Movimento Sociale Italiano (Italian Social Movement) in 1954.
GIOVANNI GRONCHI (1887–1978)
Gronchi, one of the founders of the People’s Party, was elected as a deputy in 1919 and became Undersecretary of Industry for the first Mussolini government. In 1923 he resigned and withdrew his support from the Fascist administration. He returned to politics after 8th September 1943 and was a minister in the Bonomi and De Gasperi governments. He was President of the Chamber of Deputies from 1948 to 1955 and President of the Republic from 1955 to 1962.
HAILE SELASSIE (1892–1975)
Born Tafari Makonnen, Haile Selassie was Negus of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. His assumed name means “Power of the Trinity”. Selassie was the founder of the University of Addis Ababa and carried out a programme of modernization in his country. He is considered the messiah of the Rastafarian religion.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY (1899–1961)
A journalist and novelist, Hemingway attained early commercial success with his work and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for The Old Man and
the Sea and, in 1954, the Nobel Prize for Literature. He took part in the First World War in Italy as a driver for the American Red Cross and later assisted the troops on the front line (having been exempted from battle because of his impaired sight). He was seriously wounded in July 1918.
RÉMI HESS (1947–)
A French author and sociologist, Hess was born in Reims in 1947 and is currently Professor of Educational Sciences at the University of Paris VIII.
BENITO JUÁREZ (1806–72)
A Mexican national hero, Juárez was President of Mexico from 1861 to 1864 and from 1867 to 1872. With the support of the United States, he led a guerrilla-warfare campaign until the capture of Maximilian of Habsburg, who had been appointed Emperor of Mexico by Napoleon III. The date of his birth, 21st March, is a national holiday in Mexico.
ALEXANDER KARAÐORÐEVIĆ (ALEXANDER I OF YUGOSLAVIA, 1888–1934)
Educated in Geneva and later at the St Petersburg Page Corps military school, Alexander Karadordevic was at the head of an army during the Balkan Wars (1912–13) and led the Serbian forces against the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the First World War. After being routed and forced to retreat towards Albania, his army was rescued by the Italian navy and moved to Corfu to regroup. He was crowned King of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1921, and King of Yugoslavia in 1929, and was assassinated in 1934 in Marseille by a far-right Serbian group led by Ante Pavelić.
KARL KAUTSKY (1854–1938)