Bosworth R. J. B. - Claretta: Mussolinis last lover

CLARETTA

Copyright 2017 R.J.B. Bosworth

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bosworth, R. J. B., author.

Title: Claretta : Mussolinis last lover / R.J.B. Bosworth.

Description: New Haven : Yale University Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016044930 | ISBN 9780300214277 (cloth : alkaline paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Petacci, Clara, 19121945. | Petacci, Clara, 19121945Diaries. | Mussolini, Benito, 18831945Relations with women. | MistressesItalyBiography. | Women fascistsItalyBiography. | ItalyHistory19221945Biography. | BISAC: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women. | HISTORY / Europe / Italy. | HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century. | BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Presidents & Heads of State.

Classification: LCC DG575.P455 B78 2017 | DDC 945.091092 [B]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016044930

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Mimmo Franzinelli

Then there are her relatives, who are usually poisonous. They need jobs, recommendations, subsidies, expensive operations or interminable cures for incurable diseases, and embarrassing interventions to get them out of various spots of trouble. To part with an old mistress can be one of the most difficult, delicate, and expensive operations in a mans life, often much more troublesome than a church annulment. It is such a formidable task, at times, that many timid men go without a mistress for fear of not being able to get rid of her when the time should come.

Luigi Barzini, Memories of mistresses: reflections from a life

CONTENTS

1. Claretta enjoys the seaside.

2. Leda Rafanelli as new woman.

3. Margherita Sarfatti, confident bourgeois.

4. Ida Dalser, bringing Paris fashion to Milan.

5. Benittino, son of Ida Dalser and Mussolinis unluckiest child.

6. The Mussolinis as they settled in the Villa Torlonia.

7. Edda marries Galeazzo and the social pages are delighted.

8. Ingnue in the office? Bianca Ceccato.

9. Mother with staying power: Angela Cucciati.

10. Elena Curti, philosophy student, loyal to the end.

11. Alice Pallottelli as a young woman.

12. Magda Brard, the Duces pianist.

13. Cornelia Tanzi rebutting postwar allegations of horizontal collaboration.

14. Giulia Carminati as stern Fascist.

15. Magda Fontanges with the snap in her prose.

16. Every inch a princess: Maria Jos.

17. Mussolini and female admirer (the image was suppressed under the dictatorship).

18. Rachele making a rare public appearance with the Duce.

19. Nonno Duce (another officially suppressed image).

20. Claretta around 1940, putting on weight and respectability.

21. Claretta the cartoonist, with herself as doggie listening to her masters voice.

22. Marcello Petacci and car.

23. Zita, Benghi and Ciccio.

24. Villa Schildhof, Naifweg, Obermais.