He wasn't gallant, seductive, or even especially handsome. Still, he changed women like gloves. Although he treated other partners terribly, the ladies clung to him. Breathtakingly beautiful, quite mediocre, and utterly unattractive - each one hoped that Duce would favor her. And it was often successful. Mussolini paid no attention to his appearance. Only sex mattered.
Moreover, it is difficult for him to make excessive demands on lovers, since he himself did not sin with beauty. As the dictator Antoni Scurati describes in the fictionalized biography of M. Son of the century:
There was a strong neck above the robust torso, a full face with satisfaction painted on it, an arrogant gait, a fleshy mouth, reminiscent of a shamelessly naked phallus, with a newly lit cigarette stuck to its lips. In a word, Mussolini has the grace of a dressed-up simpleton (...).
Mussolini was a cruel and sex addict
A model example of a debauchee who, freed from all the constraints of his former beliefs, discovers the benefits of prosperity, finds himself a mistress and enjoys life.
Women to be raped
Mussolini never concealed his weakness for the fair sex. It all started when he was still a teenager. A colleague, a certain Benedetto Celli, took him to the "house of shame", where Benita "dripping fat on all sides" introduced him to the arcane of love art by an elderly prostitute (and infected him with syphilis by the way).
Later he made more conquests for himself, not caring particularly about romance and a good upbringing. He treated women instrumentally. As Jerzy Besala reports:
He dealt with them as with colleagues. Force. He had dragged a neighbor from his hometown down the stairs to the corner behind the door when they all went to siesta. And he did his job. He did not understand her lamentations that he had taken away her honor. "I do not deny it," he replied. - But what part is she talking about? ”.
He treated other women similarly. When they resisted, he promised them marriage. It was then that he discovered a way not only for girls, but also for controlling the masses: "The crowd, like the women, is made to rape him." - I will write later.
Another partner, named Giulia, was stabbed in a fit of anger and bit her shoulder. J as he said himself, he had it at will, which amounted to bullying and mistreatment of his mistress (married women by the way).
When he gained power, he no longer had to resort to rape. The ladies pushed themselves into his bedroom - as well as into his office and any other room where Duce would just like to satisfy his lust (he was not lacking this one). Its driver, Ercole Borrato, recalled that after a hard day at the ministry, the boss had one more urgent obligation to fulfill - already outside of work - namely meeting one of his numerous partners.
Mussolini with family
Besides, he did not always wait until the end of work. Antonio Scurati in the book by M. The son of the century reports:“Mussolini is served by only one woman, a certain Cesira Carocci (…). Rumor has it that from time to time he brings in girls for him, thanks to whom the Prime Minister satisfies his sexual needs quickly and efficiently, with legs tied with trousers dropped to the ankles. "
Violin sex demon
Dozens, if not hundreds, of lovers passed through the dictator's bed. Already at the age of 28, Benito confessed with a certain nostalgia:"I loved many women, but those distant loves were covered with a gray veil of oblivion." It's hard to say what drew them so much to the tyrant. On the other hand, it has been known for a long time that power is a wonderful aphrodisiac. Besala describes:
The women offered themselves to him. One of the Piedmontese teachers asked him to have her before marriage, according to the old tradition of ius primae noctis, the law of the first night for the ruler. (...) Hysterical girls were lining up under the balcony from which he was speaking. Each of them hoped that Duce would notice her and invite her over.
Women were welcomed in the great Globus Hall, almost without furniture, in the alcoves there were only benches covered with cushions. There was no bed, just a large carpet. Before Duce let them in, they had to sit in the corridor with party officials , and the flow of this movement was supervised by the janitor and chamberlain of Quinto Navarra. He, too, was collecting hairpins and similar women's accessories from the carpet, traces of Duce's love triumphs.
He probably had other advantages as well - in the ebb of sentimentalism, he played love serenades on the violin for lovers. His notorious brutality was then relegated to the background.
Even before he started his political career, however, he couldn't complain about his lack of success. He became involved with one of his most famous lovers - the Jewish journalist Margherita Sarfatti - in 1911. In the biography of the dictator, Göran Hägg reports:“She had a great influence on Mussolini, especially in a later period. She was the most gifted of all his lovers. Sarfatti was the exception in many ways - she was not a one-night stand. On the contrary. According to many historians, she was probably the tyrant's most important adviser.
Troublesome adventures
Other romances weren't so smooth anymore. The relationship with Ida Dalser, who bore Mussolini's son, hurt the future dictator with hiccups as the woman began demanding a wedding and money. She would come to him at work, arranging tavern quarrels. In the end, after gaining power, Benito got rid of her once and for all - with a diagnosis of mental illness, he locked his ex-partner in an insane asylum.
Interestingly, according to journalist Marco Zeni, Ida had every right to demand Mussolini's attention and care, because from 1914 they were to be… married. Although no documents confirming this have been found, if it were true, then he took a civil marriage in 1915, and 10 years later a church wedding with his long-time concubine and the mother of his (five) official children, Rachel Guidi, Benito would have committed a bigamy .
Rachela Guidi bore Mussolini five children
This was not the only embarrassing relationship of the amorous tyrant. As reported by Göran Hägg, after his victory in Africa, Mussolini got caught up in an affair with a French journalist, Magda de la Ferriere, writing under the pseudonym de Fontanges. When he wanted to end the relationship, he caused an avalanche of misfortunes. The dictator's biographer recalls:
Fontanges, who was twenty-five at the time, refused to accept the fact that the romance was over. Mussolini gave her some consolation, but her superiors in Paris fired her when they found out about the whole story.
Undeterred by this, the French woman returned to Rome to meet the man whom she stubbornly called the love of her life. She was expelled from Italy after a suicide attempt at a hotel. In 1937, she wanted to murder the former French ambassador to Italy, who she claimed had slandered her to the Duce.
The woman managed to earn at least a little from the whole scandal. In 1940, she sold her story to the American weekly Liberty.
The winding road through life
Mussolini himself considered his promiscuity and his morbid need to have sex as something completely normal. As he explained to his last, most famous love affair, Claretta Petacci, with whom he was shot on April 28, 1945, and then hanged as a warning: “I had children outside of marriage, I had lovers. However, I feel justified in the circumstances. After all, can a man like me who has had a lot of opportunities be expected to walk a straight path through life? ” Then he added blithely: "All men cheat on their wives, even the sons of the hairdressers."
What about his wife? Well, she had to quickly come to terms with her husband's infidelity. Besides, Mussolini had betrayed her before the wedding. On the other hand, she could not afford to break up - because of the five children together. However, she was able to fight for hers. When rumors of another affair came to her, she showed up at Benita's office and demanded to rent an apartment for her in Milan. Jerzy Besala describes:
He refused, but it was enough that his wife told him with icy coldness that Mrs. Agosti would come to her aid. It was a woman from Forlě who did not hesitate to kill her lover for abandoning her. In addition, the court acquitted her. Frightened by the prospect of a clash with a madman, Benito agreed that Rachel and his family would come to Milan permanently.
In his heart, he must have had warm feelings for the woman who stayed by his side for the longest, 35 years. Ultimately, it was to her that in his farewell letter of April 25, 1945, he wrote:“Forgive me for all the evil I have done you involuntarily. But you know you were the only woman in my life that I really loved. I swear it to you before God. ”