The Body of Il Duce Read online

  2. Mirko Dondi, “Piazzale Loreto,” I luoghi della memoria: Miti e simboli dell’Italia unita, ed. Mario Isnenghi (Rome-Bari: Laterza, 1996), p. 491.

  3. Italo Calvino, “I ritratti del Duce” (1983), Saggi 1945–1985, vol. 1 (Milan: Mondadori, 1995), p. 2891.

  4. Luigi Meneghello, Bau-sète! (1988; rpt. Milan: Bompiani, 1996), p. 39.

  5. Ibid., p. 40.

  6. Norma Rangieri, “Combat film, rapsodia in nero,” Il Manifesto, April 7, 1994.

  7. Franco Ferraresi, “La storia ‘sfregiata’ per sensazionalismo” Corriere della Sera, April 9, 1994.

  8. Barbara Spinelli, “La TV e l’Italia malata,” La Stampa, April 8, 1994.

  9. Interview with Stefano Levi della Torre, “Quando avanza la zona grigia,” Il Manifesto, April 13, 1994.

  10. Guido Ceronetti, “Lo spettro funest,” La Stampa, April 7, 1994.

  11. Giorgio Bocca, “I due falsi storici del 25 aprile,” La Repubblica, April 14, 1994.

  12. Eugenio Scalfari, “Aria di Mussolini,” Il Venerdì (weekly magazine of La Repubblica), February 27, 1998, pp. 33–34.

  13. Domenico Leccisi, “Ai lettori,” Alternative: Agenzia di informazione per la stampa, March 1995, p. 4.

  14. From the guest book, crypt at San Casciano, January 1997.

  Acknowledgments

  Many people helped me during the years of research. My first thanks go to Ugo Berti Arnoaldi, whose generous advice was matched by his profound knowledge of the routes that link Italian history and memory during the twentieth century. I am equally indebted to Domenico Leccisi, one of the principal actors in Mussolini’s afterlife, who shared with me his archives and his store of memories. I am all the more grateful for his willingness to help given the great gulf in our political beliefs.

  The children of two other prominent figures in this story offered help and information about their fathers; my thanks, therefore, to Giovan Battista Ansaldo and Roberta De Monticelli. Journalist Mario Proli supplied background on modern-day Predappio; it gives me pleasure to thank him and his mother, Rosanna Proli, who showed me around the relevant Mussolini sites. On the day I visited I was accompainied by Michele Bella, a photographer, who produced the images from Predappio and helped me choose material from the Publifoto archives. My thanks also go to those who made the American edition of this book possible. In the first place to Frederika Randall, who brought to the translation not only her literary talent but also a thorough knowledge of Italian society and culture, past and present. And to the staff of Metropolitan Books, in particular to Sara Bershtel, who believed in this project with contagious enthusiasm, and to Riva Hocherman, who edited the book with the greatest of skill and patience.

  When I first set out to track the odyssey of Il Duce’s body, I was encouraged by the best historian in the field, Mario Isnenghi, whom I thank for our initial conversations and for his comments on the Italian edition. Antonio Gibelli not only offered a critical reading of the text but an ongoing dialogue about the book’s concerns. To Paolo Viola, finally, I owe more than thanks. I owe to him my methods and my motives for the study of history.

  Index

  The index that appears in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

  Action Party

  Agazio, Franco De

  Agnese Goes to Die (Vigano)

  Agnesina, Vincenzo

  Agnoletti, Enzo Enriques

  Almirante, Giorgio

  Alvaro, Corrado

  Amendola, Giorgio

  Amendola, Giovanni

  Amnesty for Fascists

  anarchists

  Angelini, Armando

  Angiolillo, Renato

  Ansaldo, Giovanni

  anti-anti-Fascism

  anti-Communist press

  anti-Communist squads

  anti-Fascists. See also Resistance; and specific parties

  burial of Mussolini and

  dead

  death of Mussolini and

  display of bodies and

  exiles

  fall of Mussolini and

  Fascism and post-Fascism and

  Gadda and

  health of Mussolini and

  Matteotti murder and

  Piazzale Loreto and

  Predappio and

  press and

  protests and

  repression of

  revisionists and

  trial for Mussolini and

  Arditi (combat unit)

  Arrigoni, Felice

  Artieri, Giovanni

  Audisio, Walter (Colonel Valerio)

  August 10, 1944, martyrs

  Avanti!

  Badoglio, Pietro

  Balabanov, Angelica

  Balbo, Italo

  Balilla

  Bandinelli, Ranuccio Bianchi

  Bandini, Franco

  Barlassina bell

  Bauer, Riccardo

  Begnac, Yvon De

  Belfagor

  Benito I, Emperor (Ramperti)

  Benito Mussolini without Fascism (Cliandro)

  Berlusconi, Silvio

  Betrothed, The (Manzoni)

  Biagi, Enzo

  Bianchini, Giulio

  Black Brigades

  Blackshirts

  Bocca, Giorgio

  Bocchini, Arturo

  Bolshevism

  Borsa, Mario

  Bottai, Giuseppe

  Branca, Vittore

  Brancati, Vitaliano

  Brigata Nera Aldo Resega

  Buried in Italy campaign

  Cabella, Gian Gaetano

  Calamandrei, Piero

  Caliandro, Piero

  Calvino, Italo

  Campagnola mass graves

  Candido (newspaper)

  Cantacronache (singers)

  Caporetto, defeat at

  Carnevali, Ulderico

  Carpi, Aldo, Sarabanda by

  Carretta, Donato

  Casimiro, Father

  Casina mass graves

  Casiraghi, Giulio

  “Casket, The” (Questi)

  Catholic Church

  Cattabeni, Caio M.

  Cattaneo, Carlo

  Ceronetti, Guido

  Cerro Maggiore convent

  Certosa di Pavia

  Cesare, Dr. Mario De

  Chain, The (Lussu)

  Chiaie, Stefano Delle

  Christian Democrats

  neo-Fascists and

  Christ Stopped at Eboli (Levi)

  Ciano, Edda Mussolini (daughter)

  Ciano, Galeazzo (son-in-law)

  Ciarlantini, Franco

  Civiltà cattolica

  civil war

  Civitella massacre (1944)

  Cold War

  collective guilt

  Colombi, Alfredo

  “Combat Film” (TV show)

  Committee of National Liberation

  Communist Party

  Corriere della Sera

  Corriere lombardo

  Costa, Vincenzo

  Croce, Benedetto

  Dead Man Among Us, A (Longanesi)

  death penalty

  Delcroix, Carlo

  De Meis, Marco

  Democratic Fascist Party

  Dewey, John

  Ducci, Roberto

  Dumini, Amerigo

  Dunn, James C.

  Dux (Sarfatti)

  Einaudi publishing house

  elections

  of 1919

  of 1946

  of 1948

  of 1953

  of 1958

  of 1994

  referendum on republic of 1946

  Emilia-Romagna

  Epoca

  Eros and Priapus (Gadda)

  Ethiopia

  Europeo

  Eusebio, Father

  Fabbri, Giacomo

  Falco, Giac
omo

  Farinacci, Roberto

  Fasci (combat groups)

  Fascism

  anti-Fascism and post-Fascism and

  body and theatricality of

  death and

  disease and

  embodied, in Mussolini

  fall of

  genital history of

  honor and

  origins of

  pilgrimage to Predappio and

  Fascist Party. See also Italian Social Republic of Salò; neo-Fascists

  dead, battle over

  Federzoni, Luigi

  Felice, Renzo De

  Fellini, Federico

  Fenoglio, Beppe

  Ferreira, Pedro

  Festa dell’Unità, (1947)

  Festival of Fraternity (1945)

  Filippo, Eduardo De

  First Book of Fairy Tales (Gadda)

  Flaiano, Ennio

  “For the Martyrs in Piazzale Loreto” (Gatto)

  Fortini, Franco

  Fosse Ardeatine massacre

  French Foreign Legion

  Freud, Sigmund

  Friends of the People

  Gadda, Carlo Emilio

  Galimberti, Duccio

  Garibaldi, Anita, ashes of

  Garibaldi, Giuseppe

  Garibaldi, Peppino

  Garibaldi, Ricciotti

  Garibaldi, Sante

  Garibaldi Brigades

  Gasparini, Fausto

  Gasperi, Alcide De

  Gatto, Alfonso

  Genoa protests (1960)

  Gentile, Giovanni

  Germans (Nazis)

  Giannini, Guglielmo

  Gibson, Violet

  Gide, André

  Giglio, Tommaso

  Giolitti, Giovanni

  Giovannini, Alberto

  “Giovinezza” (Fascist hymn)

  Giuliano, Salvatore

  “Globetrotter” articles

  Gorreri, Dante

  Govoni, Corrado

  Gramsci, Antonio

  Gramsci, Delio

  Gramsci, Giuliano

  Greppi, Antonio

  Grigorian, Vagan G.

  Guareschi, Giovanni

  Guidi, Guido Buffarini

  Handsome Priest, The (Parise)

  Here They Do Not Rest (Montanelli)

  Hero of Our Time, A (Pratolini)

  Himmler, Heinrich

  Hitler

  death of

  Holocaust

  House on the Hill, The (Pavese)

  Huizinga, Johan

  Il Becco giallo

  Il Borghese

  Il Cantachiaro

  Il Meridiano d’Italia

  Il Mondo

  Il Nuovo Mondo

  Il Politecnico

  Il Ponte

  Il Popolo

  Il Popolo d’Italia

  Il Pubblico

  Il Risorgimento

  Il Secolo d’Italia

  International Brigades

  international war crimes court

  Invisible Cities (Calvino)

  Ionesco

  I Stole Mussolini’s Body (Leccisi)

  Italian Chamber of Deputies

  Italian constitution

  Italian Liberation Army

  Italian Social Movement

  Italian Social Republic of Salò

  corpses displayed by

  dead of

  veterans of

  Italian Social Republic Veterans Association

  Italy. See also civil war

  “bad conscience” of

  grief and

  north, vs. south

  republic founded

  strength in defeat and

  I Vespri d’Italia (newspaper)

  Jews

  Johnny the Partisan (Fenoglio)

  Justice and Liberty

  Ladies and Gentlemen, the Court Is in Session (radio program)

  La Dolce Vita (film)

  Lampredi, Aldo (“Guido”)

  La Repubblica fascista

  L’Asino

  “Laude, 29 April, 1945” (Quasimodo)

  Leccisi, Domenico

  left. See also anti-Fascists; and specific parties

  Le Monde

  Lenin

  Leto, Guido

  Letters from Resistance Fighters Condemned to Death

  Levi, Carlo

  Liberty Volunteers Corps

  L’Illustrazione italiana

  L’Italia libera

  Lombardi, Riccardo

  Longanesi, Leo

  Longo, Luigi

  Lotta d’Italia

  Lotta fascista

  Luca, Don Giuseppe De

  Lucetti, Gino

  l’Unità

  Lussu, Emilio

  Magi, Renato

  Maistre, Joseph de

  Malaparte, Curzio

  Manchester Guardian

  Mann, Thomas

  Manzoni, Alessandro

  March on Rome

  Marrocco, Dr.

  Marsanich, Augusto De

  Marx, Karl

  Matteotti, Giacomo

  Mazzantini, Carlo

  Memoirs of Mussolini’s Manservant (Montanelli and Longanesi)

  Men and Not Men (Vittorini)

  Meneghello, Luigi

  Michelini, Arturo

  Michels, Roberto

  Mila, Massimo

  Misèfari, Bruno, tomb of

  Mondadori, Alberto

  Monelli, Paolo

  Montanelli, Indro

  Monticelli, Roberto De

  Moon and the Bonfires, The (Pavese)

  Morality of Mussolini

  Moravia, Alberto

  Morfini, Elda

  Moscatelli, Cino

  Muggiani, Giorgio

  Musocco cemetery

  Mussolini, Benito

  assassination of, plotted

  autopsy of

  body of, as symbol

  burial of, at Predappio

  burial of, battle over

  calls for death of

  complete works of

  death of, events and legends of

  death of, lack of honor in

  executioner of, revealed

  fall of

  forgiveness and

  health of

  hidden burial site and

  “hidden king” and

  images of

  Italian republic and

  last days of

  Leccisi meets

  literature on

  masses for, secret

  Matteotti murder and

  memorabilia of

  metamorphoses of

  Piazzale Loreto display of

  Piazzale Loreto editorial by

  Piazza Venezia rallies

  power and charisma of

  relationship of Italian people with

  Salò and

  “secret daughter” of

  social ideals of

  survival vs. sacrifice and

  theft of body of

  trial of, regret over lack of

  TV and

  Web site of

  WWI and

  WWII and

  Mussolini, Edvige (sister)

  Mussolini, Petit Bourgeois (Monelli)

  Mussolini, Rachele (wife)

  Mussolini, the Traitor (Balabanov)

  Mussolini Action Squads

  Mussolini in the Imagination (Ciarlantini)

  Mussolini Remembered: X-rays of the Former Dictator (Rossi)

  Mussolini’s Last Five Seconds (Pisanò)

  Mussolini’s Political Testament (Cabella)

  Mussolini: The Story of a Corpse (Vacirca)

  Muti (militia)

  My Good Man Mussolini (Montanelli)

  My Life with Benito (Mussolini and Pini)

  National Alliance

  National Association of Injured Veterans

  National Association of Partisans

  National Corporative Party

  National Fascist Party

  N
ational Patriotic Party

  Nenni, Pietro

  Nenni, Vittoria

  neo-Fascists. See also specific parties

  body stolen by

  Christian Democrats and

  Church and

  elections and

  Predappio burial and

  neorealism

  Oggi

  Ojetti, Ugo

  Olive Tree coalition

  Omodeo, Adolfo

  Open City (film)

  OVRA (secret police)

  Paggi, Dr. Gastone

  Pajetta, Giancarlo

  Palazzeschi, Aldo

  Pallante, Antonio

  Parini, Alberto

  Parini, Piero

  Parise, Goffredo

  Parozzi, Antonio

  Parri, Ferruccio

  Paul VI, Pope

  Pavese, Cesare

  Pavone, Claudio

  Pertini, Sandro

  Petacci, Clara (Claretta)

  Piazza Venezia rallies

  Piccole Italiane

  Pini, Giorgio

  Pintor, Giaimi

  Poggio Bustone battle (1944)

  Pontifical Committee on Welfare

  Popolo d’Alessandria

  Popular Party

  “Portraits of Il Duce” (Calvino)

  post-Fascism

  Poviglio mass graves

  Pratolini, Vasco

  Predappio

  cemetery guest book

  pilgrimages to

  remains transferred to

  Proli, Mario

  qualunquista movement

  Quasimodo, Salvatore

  Questi, Giulio

  Racial Laws

  Radio Bari

  Radio Milano

  Ramperti, Marco

  Rana, Mauro

  Reggio Emilia demonstrations (1960)

  Resistance (partisans). See also anti-Fascists; and specific parties

  dead, vs. Fascist dead

  death of Mussolini and

  Predappio burial and

  revisionists

  Ricci, Berto

  Ricci, Umberto

  Rienzo, Cola di

  Rinascita

  Risiera di San Sabba concentration camp

  Risorgimento liberale

  Roma 1943 (Monelli)

  Romita, Giuseppe

  Roncoroni, Mario

  Roosevelt, Franklin D.

  Rossi, Cesare

  Rossi, Ernesto

  Saba, Umberto

  St. Petersburg Dialogues (de Maistre)

  Salierno, Giulio

  Salò. See Italian Social Republic of Salò

  Salvalaggio, Nantas

  Salvemini, Gaetano

  San Casciano cemetery. See Predappio

  San Maurizio Canavese corpses

  Santa Libera rebellion (1946)

  Sant’Angelo convent

  Sant’Anna di Stazzema massacre

  Santillo, Dr. Emilio

  Saragat, Giuseppe

  Sarfatti, Margherita

  Satta, Salvatore

  Sbardellotto, Angelo

  Scalfari, Eugenio

  Scelba, Mario