Synopses & Reviews
A brilliant young historian follows the odyssey of Mussolinis body in an ingenious” exploration of the legacy of Italian Fascism (The New Yorker)
Bullet-ridden, spat on, strung up in a Milan square: this was the fate of Il Duce, as reviled in death as he was adored in life. With Italys defeat in World War II, the cult of Benito Mussolinis physical self was brought to its grotesque denouement by a jeering crowd of thousandsone eerily similar to the throngs that had once roared their approval beneath his balcony.
In this groundbreaking work, Sergio Luzzatto traces the fortunes of Mussolinis body from his charismatic domination of Fascist parades to his humiliating execution and beyond, as his corpse was buried, exhumed, stolen, and secreted away for ten years. Through this pursuit, Luzzatto demonstrates how, in a totalitarian state, the rulers body comes to incarnate the nation. Elegantly written and stunningly conceived, The Body of Il Duce is a compelling history of a country struggling to free itself from the thrall of Fascism.
Sergio Luzzatto is a professor of modern history at the University of Turin, Italy. He is the author of four works of history, among them The Encyclopedia of Fascism, and is a regular contributor to the leading Italian dailies La Stampa and Corriere della Sera. 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 Benito Mussolini's physical self was brought to its grotesque denouement by a frenzied, jeering crowd of thousandsone eerily similar to the cheering throngs that had once roared their approval beneath Il Duce's balcony.
In this book, Sergio Luzzatto traces the fortunes of the dictator's body: from his charisma, virility, and magnetic domination of Fascist parades to his humiliating execution, the ugly display of his remains, and beyond. Buried, exhumed, stolen, and hidden for ten years, Il Duce's corpse was finally laid to rest, a shrine for fanatical followers. Through this pursuit, Luzzatto shows how in a totalitarian state the body of the ruler comes to incarnate the nation. And from the indignities visited on Mussolini's corpse, Luzzatto crafts a subtle social and intellectual history of a country struggling to become a republic and free itself from the thrall of Fascism. "Ingenious . . . Italy's relationship with its Fascist past is illuminated by the tale of a body as politically significant in death as it was in life."The New Yorker "Ingenious . . . Italy's relationship with its Fascist past is illuminated by the tale of a body as politically significant in death as it was in life."The New Yorker
"A fascinating bookelegant, filled with insight."Amos Elon, The New York Review of Books "The hardest working corpse in Italy . . . led an extraordinary afterlife, worthy of a biographer of Luzzatto's enthusiasm and skill."The Nation "The battered corpse of Mussolini, strung up by the feet in a Milan gas station next to the body of the dictator's mistress, is one of the most famous shock images of World War II. But the story did not stop there: hidden, stolen, hidden again, and finally restored to the family burial plot, Mussolini's body continued to serve symbolic purposes. Now, through this story, Sergio Luzzatto, one of Italy's most talented younger historians, has given us a fresh and vivid understanding of bodies, icons, and the legacy and memory of the Fascist dictator."Robert O. Paxton, author of The Anatomy of Fascism
"Full of brilliant observation and subtle insights, Sergio Luzzatto's book on Fascism, anti-Fascism and post-Fascism offers original reflections on the distortion of memory for political purposes and on the ambiguities of guilt, responsibilities, judgment, and compassion."Susan Zuccotti, author of Under His Very Windows: The Vatican and the Holocaust in Italy
"With a lovely eye for the sad ironies of history, in a book that is agile and engrossing, Sergio Luzzatto has taken a macabre subject and made it yield a deeply meaningful story about Italys past that won't go away."Victoria deGrazia, author of Irresistible Empire: America's Advance Through Twentieth-Century Europe
"With great dramatic skill, Sergio Luzzatto recounts the story behind that famous picture of Benito Mussolini strung upside down at a Milan gas station in April 1945. In the process, this bold young historian manages to reveal the multiple political and symbolic meanings contained in just one body."Wolfgang Schivelbusch, author of The Culture of Defeat
"An unusual and illuminating work from one of Italy's brightest young historians."Paul Ginsborg, author of Italy's and Its Discontents: Family, Civil Society, State
"The corpse of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini has been a ghoulish political football. In addition to his capture and execution in April 1945, historian Luzzatto examines the body's display in Milan, its subsequent peregrinations, and the indelible impression of the death spectacle on the Italian political and literary imagination. As Luzzatto points out, for true-believing Fascists, Mussolini's propagandized image was not effaced by the degradation of Il Duce's body. One named Domenico Luccisi stole the coffin in 1946, but not for long, and it was secreted in a convent until 1957, when it was reinterred in Mussolini's hometown, replete with a shrine for his admirers. Luccisi parlayed his devotional stunt into a political career; likewise, Mussolini's executioner, Communist Walter Audisio, also entered parliament. Meanwhile Italian writers such as Carlo Emilio Gadda and Curzio Malaparte were tapping Mussolini's pre- and postmortem appearance for novels exploring the postwar continuation in Italian politics of neo-Fascism. A perceptive chronicle of a bizarre undercurrent in Italian history."Booklist
Review
"The hardest working corpse in Italy . . . led an extraordinary afterlife, worthy of a biographer of Luzzatto's enthusiasm and skill." --
The Nation"Luzzatto, one of Italy's most talented younger historians, has given us a fresh and vivid understanding of bodies, icons, and the legacy and memory of the Fascist dictator."
--Robert O. Paxton, author of The Anatomy of Fascism
Synopsis
A brilliant young historian follows the odyssey of Mussolini's body in an "ingenious" exploration of the legacy of Italian Fascism (The New Yorker)
Bullet-ridden, spat on, strung up in a Milan square: this was the fate of Il Duce, as reviled in death as he was adored in life. With Italy's defeat in World War II, the cult of Benito Mussolini's physical self was brought to its grotesque denouement by a jeering crowd of thousands--one eerily similar to the throngs that had once roared their approval beneath his balcony.
In this groundbreaking work, Sergio Luzzatto traces the fortunes of Mussolini's body from his charismatic domination of Fascist parades to his humiliating execution and beyond, as his corpse was buried, exhumed, stolen, and secreted away for ten years. Through this pursuit, Luzzatto demonstrates how, in a totalitarian state, the ruler's body comes to incarnate the nation. Elegantly written and stunningly conceived, The Body of Il Duce is a compelling history of a country struggling to free itself from the thrall of Fascism.
About the Author
Sergio Luzzatto is a professor of modern history at the University of Turin, Italy. He is the author of four works of history, and a regular contributor to the leading Italian dailies
La Stampa and
Corriere della Sera. He lives in Italy.