Mussolini's Corpse And The Fortunes Of Italy
Luzzatto, a historian, follows the odyssey of Mussolini's body in an original exploration of the history and legacy of Italian Fascism. Bullet-ridden, spat on, butchered bloody - this was the fate of Il Duce, strung up beside his dead mistress in a Milan square, as reviled in death as he was adored in life.
With Italy's defeat in World War II, the cult of Mussolini's physical self was brought to its grotesque denouement by a frenzied, jeering crowd of thousands - one eerily similar to the cheering throngs that had once roared their approval beneath Il Duce's balcony. Luzzatto traces the fortunes of the Fascist dictator's body. Buried, exhumed, stolen, and hidden for ten years, Il Duce's corpse was finally laid to rest, a shrine for fanatical followers. He shows how in a totalitarian state the body of the ruler comes to incarnate the nation.
