Clara Petacci, known as Claretta Petacci, was a mistress of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. She was killed during Mussolini's execution by Italian partisans, allegedly throwing herself on him in a vain attempt to protect him from the bullets.
The Italian Social Republic, known as the National Republican State of Italy prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò, was a German puppet state with limited recognition that was created during the later part of World War II, that existed from the beginning of the German occupation of Italy in September 1943 until the surrender of German troops in Italy in May 1945. The German occupation triggered widespread national resistance against them and the Italian Social Republic, leading to the Italian Civil War.
Luigi Longo, also known as Gallo, was an Italian communist politician and secretary of the Italian Communist Party from 1964 to 1972. He was also the first foreigner to be awarded an Order of Lenin.
The Italian resistance movement is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social Republic during the Second World War in Italy from 1943 to 1945. As an anti-fascist movement and organisation, La Resistenza opposed Nazi Germany, as well as Nazi Germany's Italian puppet state regime, the Italian Social Republic, which was created by the Germans following the Nazi German invasion and military occupation of Italy by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS from September 1943 until April 1945.
Rachele Mussolini, also known as Donna Rachele, was the second wife of Italian duce and fascist leader Benito Mussolini.
Mezzegra is a former comune (municipality) in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy. Since 21 January 2014 it is part of the comune of Tremezzina.
The Italian Civil War was a civil war in the Kingdom of Italy fought during World War II from 8 September 1943 to 2 May 1945, by the Italian Fascists of the Italian Social Republic, a collaborationist puppet state created under the direction of Nazi Germany during its occupation of Italy, against the Italian partisans, materially supported by the Allies, in the context of the Italian campaign. The Italian partisans and the Italian Co-Belligerent Army of the Kingdom of Italy simultaneously fought against the occupying Nazi German armed forces. Armed clashes between the National Republican Army of the Italian Social Republic and the Italian Co-Belligerent Army of the Kingdom of Italy were rare, while there was some internal conflict within the partisan movement. In this context, Germans, sometimes helped by Italian Fascists, committed several atrocities against Italian civilians and troops.
The Savoia-Marchetti SM.83 was an Italian civil airliner of the 1930s. It was a civilian version of the Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bomber.
Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster OSB, born Alfredo Ludovico Schuster, was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate and professed member from the Benedictines who served as the Archbishop of Milan from 1929 until his death. He became known as Ildefonso as a Benedictine monk and served as an abbot prior to his elevation to the cardinalate.
Walter Audisio was an Italian communist partisan and politician. He was imprisoned during the late 1930s and early 1940s by the Italian fascist regime for his anti-fascist and anti-capitalist activities. As a senior partisan of the Italian resistance movement after his release during World War II, Audisio was involved in the death of Benito Mussolini, and possibly personally executed the dictator and his mistress. After the war, he was elected to parliament for the Italian Communist Party, where he served for 20 years.
Nicola Bombacci was an Italian Marxist revolutionary and later, a fascist politician. He began in the Italian Socialist Party as an opponent of the reformist wing and became a founding member of the Communist Party of Italy in 1921, sitting on the fifteen-man Central Committee. During the latter part of his life, particularly during the Second World War, Bombacci allied with Benito Mussolini and the Italian Social Republic against the Allied invasion of Italy. He met his death after being shot by communist partisans and his body was subsequently strung up in Piazzale Loreto.
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 1943, and "Duce" of Italian Fascism from the establishment of the Italian Fasces of Combat in 1919 until his execution in 1945 by Italian partisans. As authoritarian leader of Italy and principal founder of fascism, Mussolini inspired and supported the international spread of fascist movements during the inter-war period.
Mussolini and I is a 1985 made-for-television docudrama film directed by Alberto Negrin. It chronicles the strained relationship between Italy's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and his son-in-law and foreign minister, Count Galeazzo Ciano, based on Ciano's diaries. Made in English as an Italian-French-German-Swiss-Spanish-US co-production, with Bob Hoskins, Anthony Hopkins and Susan Sarandon in the leading roles, it first aired on Rai Uno on 15 April 1985 in a 130-minute version. On 8 September 1985, it premiered in the USA on HBO in an extended four-hour version.
Piazzale Loreto is a major city square in Milan, Italy.
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.
Pasquale Chessa, born in Alghero, is an Italian historian and journalist.
The death of Benito Mussolini, the deposed Italian fascist dictator, occurred on 28 April 1945, in the final days of World War II in Europe, when he was summarily executed by an Italian partisan in the small village of Giulino di Mezzegra in northern Italy. The generally accepted version of events is that Mussolini was shot by Walter Audisio, a communist partisan. However, since the end of the war, the circumstances of Mussolini's death, and the identity of his executioner, have been subjects of continuing dispute and controversy in Italy.
"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.
Francesco Maria Barracu was an Italian Fascist politician and soldier, Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Social Republic.
