The Dongo Treasure was the valuables in Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's possession at the time of his capture and execution.
During the dissolution of the Mussolini administration, valuables disappeared or were distributed. The finance minister distributed 200 million lire of state funds among government ministers who fled Italy along with their belongings. [1]
At the time of Benito Mussolini's capture, on April 27, 1945, the Italian resistance fighter Urbano Lazzaro seized two cases of valuables and documents. Mussolini's case included 1,150,000 lire and 160 British sovereigns. Lazzaro brought the two cases to a bank in the village of Domaso, north of Dongo. [1]
Additionally, Mussolini's German escorts had discarded three bags of valuables in a river. These contained gold jewelry that Italian citizens had donated to the Fascists during the 1935 Oro alla Patria fundraising campaign for Mussolini's Second Italo-Ethiopian War. Two fishermen recovered the sacks. [1]
Partisans stopped two Germans in an expensive Fiat automobile found to carry 33 million lire. The Germans attempted to bribe a Swiss national to send the money to their mistresses, but the individual instead brought the money to Lazzaro, who deposited it in the Domaso bank. [1]
In 1949, Life magazine estimated the Dongo Treasure at US$66,259,590 (equivalent to $848,493,435in 2023). [2]
Clara "Claretta" Petacci was a mistress of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. She was killed by Italian partisans during Mussolini's summary execution.
The Lateran Treaty was one component of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, agreements between the Kingdom of Italy under King Victor Emmanuel III and the Holy See under Pope Pius XI to settle the long-standing Roman question. The treaty and associated pacts were named after the Lateran Palace where they were signed on 11 February 1929, and the Italian parliament ratified them on 7 June 1929. The treaty recognised Vatican City as an independent state under the sovereignty of the Holy See. The Italian government also agreed to give the Roman Catholic Church financial compensation for the loss of the Papal States. In 1948, the Lateran Treaty was recognized in the Constitution of Italy as regulating the relations between the state and the Catholic Church. The treaty was significantly revised in 1984, ending the status of Catholicism as the sole state religion.
The Italian Social Republic, known prior to December 1943 as the National Republican State of Italy, but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò, was a German puppet state and fascist rump state with limited diplomatic recognition that was created during the latter part of World War II. It existed from the beginning of the German occupation of Italy in September 1943 until the surrender of Axis troops in Italy in May 1945. The German occupation triggered widespread national resistance against it and the Italian Social Republic, leading to the Italian Civil War.
Alessandro Pavolini was an Italian politician, journalist, and essayist. He was notable for his involvement in the Italian fascist government, during World War II, and, as the leader and founder of the Black Brigades, also for his cruelty against the opponents of fascism.
Fernando Mezzasoma, also referred to as Ferdinando, was an Italian fascist journalist and political figure. He was deputy national secretary of the National Fascist Party and Minister of Popular Culture of the Italian Social Republic.
Carlo Alberto Biggini was an Italian fascist politician who served as minister of education before and after proclamation of the Italian Social Republic under Benito Mussolini.
The Corfu incident was a 1923 diplomatic and military crisis between Greece and Italy. It was triggered when Enrico Tellini, an Italian general heading a commission to resolve a border dispute between Albania and Greece, was murdered in Greek territory along with two other officers of his staff. In response, Benito Mussolini issued an ultimatum to Greece and, when it was not accepted in whole, dispatched forces to bombard and occupy Corfu. Mussolini defied the League of Nations and stated Italy would leave if it arbitrated in the crisis, and the Conference of Ambassadors instead eventually tendered an agreement favouring Italy. This was an early demonstration of the League's weakness when dealing with larger powers.
Italian fascism, also classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian Fascism is associated with a series of political parties led by Mussolini: the National Fascist Party (PNF), which governed the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, and the Republican Fascist Party (PFR), which governed the Italian Social Republic from 1943 to 1945. Italian fascism also is associated with the post–war Italian Social Movement (MSI) and later Italian neo-fascist political organisations.
Urbano Lazzaro was an Italian resistance fighter who played an important role in capturing Benito Mussolini near the end of World War II.
Dongo is a comune in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy. It lies on the northwestern shore of Lake Como between Gravedona and Musso at the mouth of the Albano. It is 70 kilometres (43 mi) north of Milan and about 40 kilometres (25 mi) northeast of Como.
The Mussolini diaries are several forged diaries of Italy's former fascist leader Benito Mussolini. The two best known cases of forged Mussolini diaries are those of 1957 and 2007, but other forgeries have also been discovered.
Walter Audisio was an Italian partisan and communist politician, also known by his nom-de-guerreColonel Valerio. A member of the Italian resistance movement during World War II, Audisio was involved in the death of Benito Mussolini, and personally executed the dictator and his mistress Clara Petacci according to the generally accepted account of the event.
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian dictator who founded and led the National Fascist Party (PNF). He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922, until his deposition in 1943, as well as Duce of Italian fascism from the establishment of the Italian Fasces of Combat in 1919, until his summary execution in 1945. As a dictator and founder of fascism, Mussolini inspired the international spread of fascist movements during the interwar period.
Giuseppina Tuissi, better known as Gianna was an Italian communist and partisan during World War II. She was part of the 52nd Brigata Garibaldi "Luigi Clerici". From September 1944, she was a collaborator of the partisan Luigi Canali and, with him, had an important role in the arrest and the execution of Benito Mussolini and Clara Petacci.
The Italian occupation of Majorca lasted throughout the Spanish Civil War. Italy intervened in the war with the intention of annexing the Balearic Islands and Ceuta and creating a client state in Spain. The Italians sought to control the Balearic Islands because of their strategic position, from which they could disrupt lines of communication between France and its North African colonies, and between British Gibraltar and Malta. Italian flags were flown over the island. Italian forces dominated Majorca, with Italians openly manning the airfields at Alcúdia and Palma, as well as Italian warships being based in the harbour of Palma.
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"The Killers of Mussolini" is an American television play broadcast live on June 4, 1959, as part of the CBS television series Playhouse 90. It was the 35th episode of the third season. The cast includes Nehemiah Persoff as Benito Mussolini and Harry Guardino as an Italian partisan leader.
Marcello Cesare Augusto Petacci was an Italian surgeon and businessman, the brother of actress Maria Petacci and of dictator Benito Mussolini's lover Clara Petacci.
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Michele Bruno Moretti, also known by his nom-de-guerrePietro Gatti, was an Italian partisan, trade unionist and footballer.