From the Liveblog of
Sunday, October 30, 2022
Thousands of black-clad Mussolini admirers march to Italian fascist dictator’s crypt
PREDAPPIO, Italy — Several thousand black-clad fascist sympathizers chant and sing in praise of Benito Mussolini as they march to the slain Italian dictator’s crypt, 100 years after Mussolini entered Rome and completed a bloodless coup that gave rise to two decades of fascist rule.
The crowd of some 2,000 to 4,000 marchers, many sporting fascist symbols and singing hymns from Italy’s colonial era, is more numerous than in the recent past, as the fascist nostalgics celebrated the centenary of the March on Rome. On October 28, 1922, black-shirted fascists entered the Italian capital, launching a putsch that culminated two days later when Italy’s king handed Mussolini the mandate to start a new government.
The crowd in Predappio, Mussolini’s birth and final resting place in the northern Emilia-Romagna region, also is apparently emboldened by the fact that a party with neo-fascist roots is heading an Italian government for the first time since World War II.
Organizers warned participants, who arrived from as far away as Rome, Belgium and the United States, not to flash the Roman salute used by the Fascists, or they would risk prosecution. Still, some can’t resist as the crowd stops outside of the cemetery where Mussolini is laid to rest for prayers and greetings from Mussolini’s great-granddaughter, Orsola.
“After 100 years, we are still here to pay homage to the man this state wanted, and who we will never stop admiring,” Orsola Mussolini says to cheers.
She lists her great-grandfather’s accomplishments, citing an infrastructure boom that built schools, hospitals and public buildings, reclaimed malaria-infested swamps for cities, and the extension of a pension system to nongovernment workers. She is joined by her sister Vittoria, who leads the crowd in a prayer.
The crowd gives a final shout of “Duce, Duce, Duce,” Mussolini’s honorific as Italy’s dictator.
Anti-fascist campaigners held a march in Predappio on Friday, to mark the anniversary of the liberation of the town — and to prevent the fascists marching on the exact anniversary of the March on Rome.
