The
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
resistance movementA resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to fighting an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign nation through either the use of physical force, or nonviolence. The term resistance is generally used to designate movement considered...
was a
partisanA partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation. The term can apply to the field element of resistance movements that opposed German rule in several countries during World War II .- History :As early as the...
force during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Origins of the movement
After Italy's
armisticeThe Armistice with Italy was an armistice signed on September 3 and publicly declared on September 8, 1943, during World War II, between Italy and the Allied armed forces, who were then occupying the southern end of the country, entailing the capitulation of Italy...
on 8 September 1943, the Italian resistance movement became massive. The Italian partisans, as military formations of the Italian resistance movement, fought
GermanNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
occupying forces in Italy and
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
and the Mussolini-led
FascistFascism, , comprises a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology and a corporatist economic ideology developed in Italy. Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting themselves in...
Italian Social RepublicThe Italian Social Republic was a puppet state of Nazi Germany led by the "Duce of the Nation" and "Minister of Foreign Affairs" Benito Mussolini. The RSI exercised official sovereignty in northern Italy but was largely dependent on the Wehrmacht to maintain control...
(
Repubblica Sociale ItalianaThe Italian Social Republic was a puppet state of Nazi Germany led by the "Duce of the Nation" and "Minister of Foreign Affairs" Benito Mussolini. The RSI exercised official sovereignty in northern Italy but was largely dependent on the Wehrmacht to maintain control...
, or
RSIThe Italian Social Republic was a puppet state of Nazi Germany led by the "Duce of the Nation" and "Minister of Foreign Affairs" Benito Mussolini. The RSI exercised official sovereignty in northern Italy but was largely dependent on the Wehrmacht to maintain control...
). All opposition to Nazi-Fascism in Italy during the final period of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
can be broadly defined as
Resistenza.
More than 300,000 armed fighters (among them 35,000 women) took part in the fighting forces. The Italian resistance movement included elements in the country as well as among Italian armed forces abroad. Participants in the 1944-1945 strike movement in the factories of
TurinTurin is a major city as well as a business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River surrounded by the Alpine arch...
,
MilanMilan in Italy, is the capital of the region of Lombardia and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while the urban area is the fifth largest in the E.U. with an estimated population of 4.3 million...
, and other industrial cities are considered to be a part of the Italian resistance movement as well; many of the strikers were later deported to German concentration camps as a result of their "sabotage" of the war effort. Italian soldiers who refused to cooperate with the
German armed forcesWehrmacht was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe ....
(
WehrmachtWehrmacht was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe ....
) after the Armistice are considered as Italian resistance fighters. One of the best known example of such behaviour was the Italian garrison in Cefalonia, who refused to surrender the base to overwhelming German forces, right after the Allied armistice with Italy in September 1943;
6,000 prisoners were shotThe Massacre of the Acqui Division , also known as the Cephalonia Massacre , was the mass execution of the men of the Italian 33rd Acqui Infantry Division by the Germans in the island of Kefalonia, Greece, following the Italian armistice during the Second World War. About 5000 soldiers were...
by a German firing squad after the struggle.
The
1948 democratic ConstitutionThe Constitution of the Italian Republic was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended 13 times, was promulgated in the extraordinary edition of Gazzetta Ufficiale No. 298 on 27 December 1947...
of the Italian Republic declared itself to be
"built on the Resistance".
The movement was initially composed of independent troops, spontaneously formed by members of
political partiesA political party is a political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns...
previously outlawed by the Fascist regime, or by former officers of the disbanded Royal Army loyal to the
monarchyThe person who heads a monarchy is called a monarch. It was a common form of government in the world during the ancient and medieval times. A Monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power is absolutely or nominally lodged with an individual, who is the head of state, often for life or...
. Later, the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale (CNL; Committee of National Liberation) created by the
Italian Communist PartyThe Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party...
, the
Italian Socialist PartyThe Italian Socialist Party was a democratic socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892....
, the
Partito d'Azione-History:An anti-fascist political party in the tradition of Giuseppe Mazzini and the Risorgimento. Founded in July 1942 by former militants of Giustizia e Libertà , liberal socialists, democrats...
(a
republicanRepublicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of Republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context. The sometimes contrary definitions are all covered in...
liberalSocial liberalism, a reformulation of 19th century liberalism, rests on the view that unrestrained capitalism is a hindrance to true freedom. Instead of the negative freedom of classical liberalism, social liberals offered positive freedom that would allow individuals to prosper with public...
party), Democrazia Cristiana and other minor parties took control of the movement, in accordance with
KingThe House of Savoy was formed in the early eleventh century in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, it grew from ruling a small county in that region to eventually rule the Kingdom of Italy until the end of the Second World War...
Victor Emmanuel IIIVittorio Emanuele III was a member of the House of Savoy and King of Italy . In addition, he claimed the crowns of Ethiopia and Albania and claimed the titles Emperor of Ethiopia and King of Albania which were recognised by the great powers in 1937 and 1939...
's ministers and the
AlliesThe Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . The involvement of the Allies in World War II was either natural and inevitable they were invaded or under the direct threat of invasion by the Axis or compelled by concerns that the Axis powers...
.
The formations were eventually divided between three main groups, the communist Garibaldi Brigades,
Giustizia e LibertàGiustizia e Libertà was an Italian anti-fascist organization, active from 1929 to 1945.- Italian anti-fascist organization :The anti-fascist organization Giustizia e Libertà was founded in Paris in 1929 by the Italian refugees Carlo Rosselli, Emilio Lussu, Alberto Tarchiani, and Ernesto Rossi...
Brigades (related to Partito d'Azione), and socialist
MatteottiGiacomo Matteotti was an Italian socialist politician. On 30 May 1924, he openly spoke in the Italian Parliament alleging the Fascists committed fraud in the recently held elections, and denounced the violence they used to gain votes...
Brigades.
Smaller groups included
CatholicThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
sympathizers and
monarchistsMonarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...
(like the
Green Flames,
Di Dio and
Mauri), and some
anarchistAnarchism is a political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which consider the state, as compulsory government, to be unnecessary, harmful, and/or undesirable, and favors the absence of the state ....
formations.
Relations between the different groups were not always good. For example, in 1945 in Porzus (in the
province of UdineThe Province of Udine is a province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy, bordering Austria and Slovenia. Its capital is the city of Udine....
), Garibaldi Brigade partisans under
YugoslavThe Yugoslav Partisans, or simply the Partisans were a Communist-led World War II resistance movement engaged in the fight against Axis forces and their collaborators in Yugoslavia during the Yugoslav People's Liberation War from 1941 to 1945...
command attacked and killed partisans of the Catholic and
azionista OsoppoOsoppo is a comune in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 90 km northwest of Trieste and about 25 km northwest of Udine...
band. The Garibaldi Brigade partisans claimed that the Catholic and
azionista OsoppoOsoppo is a comune in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 90 km northwest of Trieste and about 25 km northwest of Udine...
band partisans had refused to accept the authority of
Josip Broz TitoJosip Broz Tito Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz Tito (Cyrillic script: Јосип Броз Тито, (7 or 25 May 1892 – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. He was Secretary-General (later President) of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (1939–80), and went on to lead the World War II...
, the Yugoslavian partisan leader. They were also accused of sharing intelligence with the fascist enemy. This famous fratricide, today often quoted for the purpose of smearing Communists and their political heirs, was preceded by several instances where the reverse was true. For example, in the
Maritime AlpsThe Maritime Alps are a mountain range in the south-western part of the Alps. They form the border between the French département Alpes-Maritimes and the Italian province of Cuneo. The Col de Tende separates them from the Ligurian Alps; the Maddalena Pass separates them from the Cottian Alps...
near
MondovìMondovì is a town and comune of Piedmont, northern Italy, located c. 80 km from Turin.The town, located on the Monte Regale hill, is divided into several rioni : Piazza , Breo, Pian della Valle, Carassone, Borgato and Rinchiuso, lower, next to the Ellero stream, developed from the 18th...
in autumn 1943 some Communists partisans, fugitive after killing German Army (
Wehrmacht Heer) officers in an
ambushAn ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors use concealment to attack a passing enemy. Ambushers strike from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops. Ambushes have been used consistently throughout history, from ancient to modern warfare...
, were traded to the Nazi-Fascists by monarchist military officers from the so called
azzurri or
badoglianiPietro Badoglio, 1st Duca di Addis Abeba, 1st Marchese del Sabotino was an Italian soldier and politician...
who exerted command there in an uneasy truce with the enemy.
While the largest contingents operated in mountainous districts of the
AlpsThe Alps are one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east; through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany; to France in the west....
and the
Apennine MountainsThe Apennines or Apennine Mountains is a mountain range stretching c. 1,200 km from the north to the south of Italy along its east coast, traversing the entire peninsula, and forming the backbone of the country...
, there were also large formations in the
Po plainThe Po is a river that flows either or – considering the length of the Maira, a right bank tributary – eastward across northern Italy, from a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest...
; in the main towns of Northern Italy, the
Gruppi di azione patriottica (G.A.P., Patriotic Action Groups) regularly carried out acts of
sabotageSabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions...
and
guerrilla warfareGuerrilla warfare is the irregular warfare warfare and combat in which a small group of combatants use mobile military tactics in the form of ambushes and raids to combat a larger and less mobile formal army....
, and the
Squadre di azione patriottica (S.A.P., Patriotic Action Squads) arranged massive
strike actionStrike action, often simply called a strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to perform work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became important in factories and mines...
s and campaigns of
propagandaPropaganda is communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience...
. Not unlike the
French ResistanceThe French Resistance is the collective name used for the French resistance movements which fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and the collaborationist Vichy Regime during World War II...
, women were important leaders and couriers both in the armed groups, as well as in the industrial areas
New territorial structures
In 1944, with the Allied forces nearby, the
partisanA partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation. The term can apply to the field element of resistance movements that opposed German rule in several countries during World War II .- History :As early as the...
resistance in Italy staged an uprising behind German lines, led by the Committee of National Liberation of Upper Italy (CLNAI). This rebellion led to the establishment of a number of provisional partisan governments throughout the mountainous regions of northern Italy, of which
OssolaThe Ossola is an area of Italy situated to the north of Lago Maggiore. It lies within the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola. Its principal river is the Toce, and its most important city Domodossola....
was the most important and received recognition from
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
and from Allied consulates in Switzerland. By the end of 1944, German reinforcements and
Benito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
's remaining forces had crushed the uprising, and the area's liberation had to wait until the final offensives of 1945.
List of partisan governments
- Alto Monferrato (Sep-2 Dec)
- Alto Tortonese (Sep-Dec)
- Bobbio
Bobbio is a small town and commune in the province of Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It is located in the Trebbia River valley southwest of the town Piacenza. There were also an abbey and a diocese of the same name. Bobbio is the administrative center of the Comunità Montana Appennino...
(7 Jul - 27 Aug)
- Cansiglio (Jul-Sep)
- Carnia
Carnia or Gnarnia is a historical-geographic region of Friuli, whose municipalities all belong to the province of Udine, which is part of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region.It covers the western and central part of the Gnarnic Alps mountain range in...
(Jul-Oct)
- Friuli Orientale (30 Jun - Sep)
- Imperia
Imperia may be:* Imperia , an Italian city* Province of Imperia, the Italian province of the above city of Imperia* IMPERIA, a vodka produced by Russian Standard* Imperia , a statue in Constance, Germany...
(Aug-Oct)
- Langhe
The Langhe is a hilly area to the south and west of the river Tanaro in the province of Cuneo in Piedmont, northern Italy....
(Sep-Nov)
- Montefiorino
Montefiorino is a comune in the Province of Modena in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 60 km southwest of Bologna and about 40 km southwest of Modena....
(17 Jun - 1 Aug)
- Ossola
The Ossola is an area of Italy situated to the north of Lago Maggiore. It lies within the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola. Its principal river is the Toce, and its most important city Domodossola....
(10 Sep - 23 Oct)
- Val Ceno (10 Jun - 11 Jul)
- Val d'Enza e Val Parma (Jun-Jul)
- Val Maira e Val Varaita (Jun - 21 Aug)
- Val Taro (15 Jun - 24 Jul)
- Valli di Lanzo (25 Jun - Sep)
- Valsesia
Valsesia is a group of valleys in north-east of Piedmont in the Province of Vercelli, Italy; the principal valley is that of the river Sesia.The major cities are Varallo Sesia, Borgosesia, Serravalle Sesia; important touristic villages include Alagna Valsesia, Rima, Carcoforo, Scopello.-External...
(11 Jun - 10 Jul)
- Varzi
Varzi is a comune in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 70 km south of Milan and about 40 km south of Pavia...
(19/24 Sep - 29 Nov)
April 25
On April 19, 1945, concurrent with the renewal of the Allied offensive, the CLN called out a general insurrection.
BolognaBologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of northern Italy...
was liberated on April 21 by Polish and Brigata Maiella troops.
ParmaParma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its architecture and the fine countryside around it. It is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
and
Reggio EmiliaReggio Emilia is an affluent city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 167,013 inhabitants and is the main comune of the Province of Reggio Emilia....
were liberated on April 24.
MilanMilan in Italy, is the capital of the region of Lombardia and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while the urban area is the fifth largest in the E.U. with an estimated population of 4.3 million...
and
TurinTurin is a major city as well as a business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River surrounded by the Alpine arch...
were liberated on April 25.
The last German troops left
GenoaGenoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000...
on April 26, when General Meinhold surrendered to the CLN.
Allied troops arrived in the liberated cities in the next days.
The toll of Nazi and Fascist retaliation
The April uprising showed to the world that not all Italians agreed with the Fascist rule. Furthermore, it proved that Italians were even prepared to fight against Fascist rule at great cost to themselves. Casualties from the uprising amounted to:
- Approximately 44,700 Italian partisans killed
- Approximately 21,200 Italian partisans wounded or disabled
- Approximately 15,000 Italian civilians killed in retaliations
- Approximately 40,000 former Italian soldiers died in concentration camps
During the war, German and Italian Fascist soldiers committed a number of other war crimes including:
- Summary Executions
- Ransacking
- Retaliations against civilians
Most of these were common practices.
Some of the most notorious events were the
Ardeatine massacreThe Fosse Ardeatine massacre was a mass execution carried out in Rome on 24 March 1944 by German occupation troops during the Second World War as a reprisal for a partisan attack conducted on the previous day in central Rome....
, the
Marzabotto massacreThe Marzabotto massacre was a World War II mass murder that took place in the territory around the small village of Marzabotto, in the mountainous area south of Bologna...
, and the
Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacreThe Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre was a World War II atrocity in the village of Sant'Anna di Stazzema, Italy. On August 12, 1944, retreating SS-men of the II Battallion of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 35 of 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, commanded by SS-Hauptsturmführer Anton...
. Captured partisans or civilians were often
tortureTorture, according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, is:In addition to state-sponsored torture, individuals or groups may be motivated to inflict torture on others for similar reasons to those of a state; however, the motive for torture can also be for the sadistic gratification of...
d. The Decima Flottiglia MAS, an Italian unit under German command, is now remembered as one of the most ruthless military corps of the war.
The Germans profited greatly from the weakness of the Fascist
puppet stateThe term puppet state describes a nominal sovereignty controlled effectively by a foreign power. The term refers to a government controlled by the government of another country like a puppeteer controls the strings of a marionette...
in
Northern ItalyNorthern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative worth, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian nation...
. The Germans determined that they would annex Italian territories into the Third Reich. Two new German regions were to be established. One was the
Alpenvorland and it was to comprise the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and the
Province of BellunoThe Province of Belluno is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Belluno.It has an area of 3,678 km², and a total population of 209,550 .-Geography:...
. The other was
Adriatisches Kustenland and it was to comprise
IstriaCroatian Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
,
QuarneroThe Kvarner Gulf ; sometimes also Kvarner Bay, in Italian Quarnaro or Carnaro) is a bay in the northern Adriatic Sea, located between the Istrian peninsula and the northern Croatian seacoast....
, and most of today's region of
Friuli-Venezia GiuliaFriuli-Venezia Giulia is one of the twenty regions of Italy, and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The capital is Trieste. It has an area of 7,856 km² and about 1.2 million inhabitants. A natural opening to the sea for many Central European countries, the region is...
. In the valley of
CarniaCarnia or Gnarnia is a historical-geographic region of Friuli, whose municipalities all belong to the province of Udine, which is part of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region.It covers the western and central part of the Gnarnic Alps mountain range in...
, anti-Communist forces from the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
under the command of
atamanAtaman was a general officer title of the Ukrainian People's Army, Cossack, and haidamak leaders who were in essence the Cossacks...
Timofey Ivanovich Domanov were used; they were promised the establishment of a
CossackCossacks were originally members of military communities in the uninhabited borderland areas in the steppe that lies North of Black Sea...
republic in Northeastern Italy, to be called
Kosakenland.
Capture and execution of Mussolini
Around 27 April 1945, Mussolini and his mistress
Clara PetacciClara Petacci was an upper class Roman who became Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's mistress. Her father had been the personal physician to the Pope. She was twenty-nine years younger than Mussolini.Petacci was with Mussolini to the end...
were captured by partisans while trying to escape to Switzerland. Upon the arrival of Communist partisans under "Lieutenant-Colonel Valerio" (Walter Audisio), Mussolini, Petacci, several high-ranking Fascist officials, and some other Fascist hanger-ons were taken to
DongoDongo 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 north of Milan and about northeast of Como...
. On April 28 they were summarily executed. Many of the corpses, including those of Mussolini and Petacci, were later taken to Milan and hung up-side down in Piazzale Loreto, a square near Milan's Central Station; the square was chosen because it had been the location of an execution of civilians by fascists in 1944. A total of fifteen Fascists were thus exhibited.
The Fascists executed in Dongo included:
Benito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
(Il Duce), Francesco Barracu (Undersecretary in cabinet office),
Fernando MezzasomaFernando Mezzasoma was an Italian fascist journalist and political figure.-Biography:Mezzasoma was born in Rome, the son of middle-class Perugians; from his late teens he showed himself to be a passionate supporter of Benito Mussolini.Mezzasoma had to contribute to his empovershed family's income...
(Ministry of Popular Culture - Propaganda), Nicola Bombacci (A personal friend of Mussolini), Luigi Gatti (Mussolini's private secretary), Pisenti Liverani (Minister of Communications),
Alessandro PavoliniAlessandro Pavolini was an Italian politician, journalist, and essayist, notable for his involvement in the Fascist government during World War II and also for his cruelty against the opponents of fascism....
(ex-Ministry of Popular Culture), Paolo Zerbino (Minister of Interior), Ruggero Romano (Minister Public Works), Paolo Porta (Head of Fascist Party in Lombardy), Alfredo Coppolo (Rector of the Bologna University), Ernesto Daquanno (Director of Stefani agency), Mario Nudi (President of Fascist Agriculture Association), Colonel Vito Casalinuovo (Mussolini's adjutant), Pietro Calistri (Air Force pilot), Idreno Utimperghe (possibly a journalist or Black Shirt leader), and
Clara PetacciClara Petacci was an upper class Roman who became Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's mistress. Her father had been the personal physician to the Pope. She was twenty-nine years younger than Mussolini.Petacci was with Mussolini to the end...
(Mussolini's mistress).
Achille Starace (Secretary of Fascist Party 1931-1939) was arrested and executed earlier in Milan. He was one of the fifteen Fascists exhibited in the square.
Marcello Petacci (Clara Petacci's brother) was captured with the others. But, rather than being executed in Dongo, he was shot trying to escape.
External links
ANPI - Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d'Italia