As antifascism is topical at the moment, I'll use it as an excuse for one of my Italian history threads with the story of the four attempts to assassinate Mussolini in less than a year, one by a socialist, one by an anarchist, one by an Anglo-Irish woman & one by a teenager >> 1
Mussolini became PM of Italy following his 'march on Rome' in October 1922, a position he consolidated in Parliamentary elections of April 1924, held in a climate of widespread violence & intimidation, under a system giving two-thirds of seats to the party with most votes >> 2
The leader of the Socialist Party, Giacomo Matteotti (photo) condemned intimidation & electoral fraud in a speech to Parliament on 30 May 1924. On 10 June, he was kidnapped & murdered by a squad of fascist 'political police', who dumped his body in the countryside near Rome >> 3 
One of the MPs elected in 1924 with Matteotti's Socialist Party was Tito Zaniboni (photo). He was a patriot, decorated for service in WWI, which he ended as a Lt. Colonel. He'd always sought compromise with the Fascist Party but Matteotti's murder made him an antifascist >> 4
Zaniboni plotted to kill Mussolini on 4 November 1925, when the PM would appear on the balcony of his official residence in Rome, Palazzo Chigi, to celebrate the anniversary of Italy's victory in WWI. Anther participant in the plot was General Luigi Capello (photo) >> 5
Unfortunately for Zaniboni, a third member of his group; Carlo Quaglia, was a police informant. On 4 November, Mussolini was scheduled to speak at noon. Zaniboni booked a room at the Hotel Dragoni & planned to shoot Mussolini from a balcony overlooking Palazzo Chigi (photo) >> 6
Three hours before the scheduled time, he entered the hotel & found the police waiting for him. In the room he had booked the police discovered an Austrian made precision rifle and in a nearby a street a car he had made ready for his escape. General Capello was also arrested >> 7
During questioning he denied any intention of killing Mussolini but, when his trial began, on 11 April 1927, he admitted his responsibility. General Capello denied charges against him & Zaniboni testified that the General was unaware of his true intentions >> 8
Zaniboni & Capello were both sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. Capello, thanks to his service in WWI & marginal role in the plot, served his sentence in a clinic with a garden in Formia & was released after 9 years >> 9
Zaniboni was released on 8 September 1943, when Italy surrendered to the Allies and was given minor roles in the Badoglio government that took power in Rome after the ousting of Mussolini, although the Socialist Party refused to support it. He died in 1960 >> 10
Five months later somebody came much closer to killing Mussolini. On 7 April 1926, Mussolini addressed an international congress of surgeons and, on leaving the building, in Piazza del Campidoglio, a shot was fired at him by Violet Gibson (photo), the bullet grazing his nose >>11
Violet Gibson was the daughter of Edward Gibson (photo), 1st Baron Ashbourne and Lord chancellor of Ireland (1885-86). She was a follower of theosophy, until her conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1902 >> 12
An inconvenient presence for her parents, she was sent to travel around Italy & Switzerland with a maid. She became a follower of Rudolph Steiner & spent long periods in spiritual retreats. In 1923, back in London, she attempted to murder her maid with a knife in the street >> 13
She spent 6 months in an asylum for 'homicidal mania' and, on release, went to live in a convent in Rome. Here, in 1925, she attempted suicide with a pistol >> 14
On 7 April 1926, she waited in Piazza del Campidoglio for Mussolini to come out of the building housing the congress. She had brought a rock to break the window of his car, if necessary, and a pistol, both hidden under a black shawl she draped over her arm >> 15
As she fired the first shot, Mussolini pulled his head backwards, some say because he was giving a Fascist salute, requiring him to stand rigidly to attention, as was his style. Thus, the bullet grazed his nose (photo, Mussolini with plaster on his nose a few days later) >> 16
Gibson attempted to fire a second shot but her revolver jammed. The police present at the scene intervened, saving her from a lynching by Fascist supporters and took her to a police station (photo, charge sheet for 'attempted assassination of the Prime Minister of Italy') >> 17
The police suspected she had been put up to the job as part of a conspiracy, in particular by Giovanni Antonio Colonna di Cesarò (photo), a Sicilian Duke, former Minister & a follower of theosophy. At first Gibson confirmed this, but later retracted. No evidence was found >> 18
Police contacted her former maid in Dublin, who travelled to Rome to testify on Gibson's health at her trial. Psychiatric examinations (which included two gynaecological examinations) led to her being certified as insane. In 1927, her family obtained her release >> 19
On her arrival in England, Violet Gibson was admitted to St Andrew's Hospital, a mental asylum in Northampton. She would never leave it, dying there on 2 May 1956 >> 20
The next attempt on Mussolini's life took place on 11 September 1926, carried out by a 26 year old anarchist from Carrara in Tuscany. Gino Lucetti (photo) had already been involved in antifascist activities, including a gunfight in Carrara >> 21
On 25 September 1925, at the end of an argument, he shot & wounded Fascist activist Alessandro Perfetti. Another Fascist, accompanying Perfetti, returned fire, wounding Lucetti in the neck & ear. Lucetti managed to escape & stowed away on a ship, ending up in Marseilles >> 22
He returned to Italy under a false name, Ermete Giovannini, and planned his attempt to murder Mussolini. On 11 September 1926, he waited in the square at Porta Pia, knowing that Mussolini passed by in his Lancia Lambda every day, travelling from home to his office >> 23
As the car passed by, Lucetti threw a homemade bomb at the car. The bomb hit the top of the rear right-hand side window (shown by the arrow in photo in previous tweet), bounced off and exploded in the street, injuring eight passers-by but leaving Mussolini unharmed >> 24
Lucetti was immediately blocked by another passer-by, called Ettore Perondi, who detained him until the police arrived. Lucetti maintained he had acted completely alone in planning & carrying out the attack but the police, determined to prove a plot arrested numerous others >> 25
Those arrested included Lucetti's mother, brother & sister, friends of his from Carrara & guests in the hotel where he stayed. In the end, 2 other anarchists, Leandro Sorio & Stefano Vatteroni, were tried with Lucetti for aiding him, though they denied any part in the plot >> 26
Lucetti was sentenced to 30 years, Sorio & Vatteroni to 20 years. Lucetti was put in prison in Naples & released in 1943 when the Allies liberated the city. He found lodgings on the island of Ischia but died on 17 September 1943, when German aircraft bombed the island >> 27
Perhaps the most dramatic attempt to assassinate Mussolini occurred on 31 October 1926. It was carried out by a boy who was just 15 years old, Anteo Zamboni (in photo, aged 7). Of the 4 people who attempted to kill Mussolini in 1925/26, he was the only one to die as a result>> 28
On the evening of 31 October 1926, the fourth anniversary of his famous 'march on Rome', Mussolini was in Bologna. He had arrived the previous day to inaugurate the new 'Littoriale' Stadium (now called 'Dall'Ara') with its huge statue of Mussolini on horseback (photo) >> 29
At 5.40 p.m., when celebrations were over, Mussolini headed for the station with crowds lining the route. At the junction of via Rizzoli and via dell'Indipendenza, his car slowed to turn the corner. Here, Zamboni pushed between police holding back the crowd & fired a shot >> 30
The bullet passed through the ribbon of the medal Mussolini was wearing around his neck, through the lapel of his jacket and through the top hat that the Mayor of Bologna, Umberto Puppini (photo), had rested on his knees & ended up in the internal padding of the car door >> 31
The teenage boy was restrained by an army officer, Carlo Alberto Pasolini (photo, left), father of the poet, writer and director Pier Paolo Pasolini. The Fascist squads accompanying and guarding Mussolini then threw themselves on the boy, lynching him (photo, right) >> 32
Investigations concentrated on the boy's family. His father Mammolo had been an anarchist in the past but became Fascist out of convenience. He owned a printshop and needed Fascist Party business, printing leaflets etc. >> 33
A 'Special Court for State Security' found Zamboni's father & aunt, Virginia Tabarroni, guilty of complicity, sentencing them to 30 years' in prison. His older brothers, Lodovico & Assunto, were sent into internal exile for 5 years on islands of Ponza & Lipari, respectively >> 34
In 1932, the Presiding Judge of the Court, Guido Cristini (photo), admitted in private that the family members were innocent & had been convicted on Mussolini's orders. He was forced to design because of this admission >> 35
On 24 November 1932, Mussolini pardoned Mammolo Zamboni and Virginia Tabarroni // 36
