The Pope and Mussolini (66 page)

CHAPTER 2: THE MARCH ON ROME

1.
E. Mussolini 1957, p. 135.

2.
Altogether, the report concluded, somewhat surprisingly, he had a
fisionomia simpatico
, a friendly face. Baima Bollone 2007, p. 22; see also Ludwig 1933, p. 37.

3.
Bosworth 2002, p. 62. An English translation of Mussolini’s first publication, “
Dieu n’existe pas
,” is found in Seldes 1935, pp. 387–90. The 1908 articles are quoted by Gentile 2010, p. 84.

4.
Rhodes 1974, p. 27.

5.
Baima Bollone 2007, pp. 23, 27.

6.
For this piece in
Avanti!
he was indicted and later brought to trial for incitement to violence. Cannistraro and Sullivan 1993, pp. 96–97.

7.
E. Mussolini 1957, pp. 31–32.

8.
Motti 2003, p. 198.

9.
Cannistraro and Sullivan 1993, p. 97. This is not one of Mussolini’s better-documented children. At some point, the line between the tales of affairs and children out of wedlock and the reality becomes blurred, although I have no reason to believe Cannistraro and Sullivan fell on the wrong side of that line here. They also discuss a son Mussolini sired in 1918 by yet another woman, Bianca Veneziana, with whom he would sporadically continue an affair for many years (1993, p. 275).

10.
Rafanelli 1975.

11.
Cannistraro and Sullivan 1993, p. 137. Rachele Mussolini (1974, pp. 74–75) provided her own account of the wedding in her memoir. Later, amid Dalser’s very public calls on Mussolini to recognize her as his wife, and her attempts to let the world know that little Benito was his son, the embarrassment proved too much for him. Once he came to power, he had Irene removed to an insane asylum, where she died in 1937. Little Benito’s fate remains somewhat more obscure. Placed under surveillance from the time his mother was taken away, he eventually became too great a liability for Mussolini. He, too, was placed in an asylum, dying there in 1942, at twenty-six. Ibid.; Festorazzi 2010, p. 49.

12.
Much controversy has surrounded the question of how Mussolini found the funds to mount the ambitious paper. Part of the funding appears to have come from Mussolini’s lovers, including Ida Dalser, who apparently sold her beauty salon to come up with cash for it. In addition, while proclaiming his opposition to the money-grubbing bourgeoisie, he was taking money from those who stood to make a profit from Italy’s entrance into the war. He received secret payments from both French and British government sources as well, eager as they were to encourage Italy’s war effort. Bosworth 2002, pp. 105–7.

13.
Ibid., pp. 106–7.

14.
“Un Appello ai lavoratori d’Italia dei fasci d’azione rivoluzionaria. Statuto-programma,”
Il Popolo d’Italia
, 6 gennaio 1916, p. 1.

15.
Festorazzi 2010, p. 37; Cannistraro and Sullivan 1993, p. 96.

16.
Milza 2000, p. 257. But in February 1918 Margherita suffered a tragedy when her firstborn child, Roberto, who had insisted on enlisting in the army at only seventeen, was killed at the front. As Mussolini was turning away from the Socialists, castigating them for undermining the war effort and disrespecting Italy’s soldiers, Margherita had a deep wound that propelled her along with him. Urso 2003, p. 119. Together they would build a new myth around the sacrifice and heroism of the Italian troops.

17.
Cannistraro and Sullivan 1993, p. 178.

18.
Margiotta Broglio 1966, pp. 79–81; Gentile 2010, p. 87.

19.
In Milan, Mussolini succeeded in convincing two well-known cultural figures to run with him on the Fascist ticket, Arturo Toscanini, famed conductor of La Scala—who would before long regret his choice—and Filippo Marinetti, leading light of the Futurist movement.

20.
Cannistraro and Sullivan 1993, pp. 215–16.

21.
Galeotti 2000, pp. 20–23.

22.
De Felice 1966, pp. 115–16.

23.
Lyttleton 1987, p. 53; Ebner 2011, pp. 23, 30–31.

24.
De Felice 1966, pp. 87, 92.

25.
De Felice 1966, p. 128; Scoppola 1996, p. 186; Kent 1981, pp. 5–6.

26.
Gentile 2010, p. 92.

27.
Venini 2004, p. 22.

28.
CC 1922 I, p. 558; CC 1922 II, pp. 178, 372. Examples in this period of
L’Osservatore romano
stories of violent attacks on priests, PPI headquarters, and Catholic groups include: “Popolari bastonati dai fascisti,” 29 marzo 1922, p. 4; “Un parroco e un avvocato aggrediti dai fascisti,” 27 aprile 1922, p. 4; “Dopo l’aggressione fascista al sacerdote Gregori,” 6 giugno 1922, p. 4; “Conflitto tra fascisti e popolari,” 21 giugno 1922, p. 4; “Esplosione di odio,” 26 luglio 1922, p. 4; “Circoli cattolici devastati,” 20 agosto 1922, p. 4; “Le aggressioni dei fascisti contro i Parroci,” 22 agosto 1922, p. 2; “Il circolo cattolico di Milzano incendiato dai fascisti,” 2 settembre 1922, p. 4; “Cattolici assaliti dai fascisti a Catania,” 12 settembre 1922, p. 4; “Cattolici aggrediti dai fascisti,” 14 settembre 1922, p. 4; “I fascisti contro i cattolici veronesi,” 23 settembre 1922, p. 4; “Nuove aggressioni fasciste contro cattolici a Verona,” 24 settembre 1922, p. 4; “La sede nel Partito Popolare di Nocera devastata dai fascisti,” 4 ottobre 1922, p. 4; “I fascisti diffidano un parroco a buttare la veste entro 48 ore,” 8 ottobre 1922, p. 4; “Due sacerdoti insultati dai fascisti,” 10 ottobre 1922, p. 4; “L’adunata fascista a Firenze s’inizia con atti ostili contro la G. Diocesana e il Partito Popolare,” 14 ottobre 1922, p. 4; “Una protesta della Federazione Giovanile Diocesana di Firenze,” 17 ottobre 1922, p. 4; “I fascisti contro le associazioni cattoliche,” 18 ottobre 1922, p. 4.

29.
Among the many biographies of Farinacci are Fornari 1971, Festorazzi 2004, and Pardini 2007. Innocenti (1992, pp. 147–50) provides a popular but colorful portrait that captures him well.

30.
Milza 2000, p. 326; De Felice 1966, pp. 222–23.

31.
Chiron 2006, pp. 256–57.

32.
The latter account, of a fearful Mussolini hiding out with his mistress near the Swiss border, is given by Festorazzi (2010, pp. 69–70). De Felice (1966, pp. 373–74), in his authoritative multivolume biography of Mussolini, places him at the theater in Milan with his wife.

33.
Cannistraro and Sullivan 1993, p. 276; Festorazzi 2010, p. 78.

34.
Pietro Badoglio quoted in Milza 2000, p. 332.

35.
Milza 2000, pp. 332–33.

36.
Lyttleton 1987, p. 89.

37.
De Felice 1966, p. 359.

38.
McCormick 1957, pp. 7–9.

39.
CC 1922 IV, pp. 354–55.

40.
Bosworth 2002, p. 172.

41.
De Felice 1966, p. 311.

42.
Their conversation took place in early November 1922. Beyens 1934, pp. 136–37.

43.
Navarra 2004, p. 15.

44.
From Salandra’s
Memorie politiche
, quoted by De Felice 1966, p. 462.

45.
Lamb 1997, pp. 59–60.

46.
This account comes from Morgan (1941, pp. 81–85), who attended the dinner.

CHAPTER 3: THE FATAL EMBRACE

1.
Tisserant 1939, pp. 389, 397; Chiron 2006, p. 151.

2.
Beyens 1934, p. 102.

3.
Confalonieri 1957, pp. 116–17. On Pius X, see Pollard 1999, p. 78.

4.
Quoted in Rhodes 1974, p. 19; Biffi 1997, p. 74.

5.
Aradi 1958, pp. 65–66; Venini 2004, p. 23.

6.
Chiron 2006, p. 126.

7.
Ibid., p. 141.

8.
What Italians would call the third floor.

9.
Dante and Manzoni held pride of place. Confalonieri 1957, pp. 173, 270–71.

10.
Confalonieri 1969, p. 36; Charles-Roux 1947, p. 10.

11.
Aradi 1958, p. 138.

12.
Lazzarini 1937, p. 319.

13.
Confalonieri 1957, pp. 71–2; Chiron 2006, pp. 141–46. Photographs of the pope during his garden walk, and aside his carriage, are found in
Illustrazione italiana
, 8 ottobre 1922, pp. 2–3.

14.
Potter 1925, pp. 9, 242–47, 254–55; MacKinnon 1927, pp. 44–45, 189–90.

15.
Potter 1925, p. 164.

16.
E. Rosa, “L’unità d’Italia e la disunione degli italiani,” CC 1922 IV, p. 106.

17.
De Rosa 1999.

18.
Sale 2007, p. 26. Ledóchowski’s letter to Rosa, dated October 31, 1922, is found in the
Civiltà cattolica
archives, to which Sale as part of the
Civiltà cattolica
collective has access.

19.
In his annual report to London, prepared on October 25, 1922, the British envoy at the Vatican wrote, “Everything in the Vatican is dominated by the Pope’s fear of Russian Communism.” Rhodes 1974, p. 18.

20.
Quoted in Sale 2007, p. 25.

21.
Sale, who examined Rosa’s archive at
Civiltà cattolica
headquarters, concludes that the pope seems to have been the one to direct Rosa to prepare the friendlier editorial, although he does not provide details. Ibid., p. 27.

22.
E. Rosa, “Crisi di stato e crisi di autorità,” CC 1922 IV, p. 204.

23.
This is the conclusion reached as well by Sale 2007, pp. 27–28.

24.
Beyens 1934, pp. 136–39. Just days after the March on Rome, Secretary of State Gasparri explained to a French diplomat that the king had made the right choice in refusing to call out the army. Fascism, he said, “has become a necessity.” Sale 2007, p. 10.

25.
Encyclicals are generally high-profile messages on issues the pope deems significant, often addressed to the bishops of a particular country or, as in this case, to all the bishops of the world.

26.
Ubi arcano
, English translation at the Vatican website:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_23121922_ubi-arcano-dei-consilio_en.html
.

27.
Milza 2000, p. 343.

28.
Ibid., pp. 345–46.

29.
Motti 2003; Falconi 1967, p. 185; Sale 2007, p. 37; Milza 2000, pp. 354, 401. For the requirement that religious textbooks receive Church approval, see DDI, series 7, vol. 2, n. 155, 1 agosto 1923. On Mussolini’s visits and disbursement of funds to local clergy, see Morgan 1941, p. 239.

30.
Quoted in Molony 1977, p. 152. The cardinal made the remarks at a wedding where Mussolini was present. So pleased was Mussolini with his words that he sent a copy of them to all Italy’s foreign embassies. The next day the Italian ambassador to Great Britain telegraphed back, reporting coverage of Vannutelli’s remarks in many British papers. The London
Times
declared that the cardinal’s remarks were not simply his personal opinion but faithfully represented the Holy See’s view. DDI, series 7, vol. 1, n. 535, 22 febbraio 1923; DDI, series 7, vol. 1, n. 544, 23 febbraio 1923.