Clara Petacci went down in history primarily not as a friend of the Duce, but as a woman whose love is worthy of admiration and respect: she could not breathe without her Benito, Senor Petacci covered her beloved body and died first, they could not tear her from Mussolini.
Mussolini's only love
Maybe you should not admire the fascist dictator’s love story, but Clara Petacci had nothing to do with the acts of Benito Mussolini, she lived only in love.
A sufficiently wealthy woman, she never used her position as a beloved duce for mercenary purposes. More often than not, official information about her comes down to reports that she was an Italian aristocrat and the last mistress of the fascist dictator. But she was the only true love of the "great macho" Mussolini.
Favorite since childhood
Clara Petacci (photo attached) was a real Italian beauty - a snow-white face with huge luminous eyes, dark, thick, curly hair, an amazing figure with high magnificent breasts, a thin waist and wide hips - it was impossible not to notice her. This "slave of love" was born in 1912 in the family of one of the personal doctors of Pope Pius XI Francesco Saverio Petacci. The house was dominated by the cult of Mussolini, and, according to many accounts, Klara adored the Duce from childhood. She wrote letters of declaration of love to him, but they settled in the secretariat, since there were thousands of similar messages. In Italy, during the reign of Mussolini, the attitude of women towards him resembled mass psychosis or hysteria: women of all ages loved and desired him. Not only women knew how to like him, everyone was enthusiastically awaiting his speeches delivered from the balcony, for the love of which the Italians called Mussolini Juliet.
Love that has turned into a real feeling
Clara Petacci in real life first met her idol on a car ride in 1932. She was 20 years old, Mussolini - 50. The loving Duce, about whose sexual abilities were legendary, could not help but pay attention to the amazing beauty. And then amazing things begin to happen to the dictator that he, in general, was not familiar with - their platonic relationship lasted four years. The correspondence with declarations of love was continuous.
Whole nature
In general, the epistolary legacy that Clara Petacci left is 15 volumes. And all the letters are dedicated to the only chosen one, by the time of the meeting with whom she was the official bride of the aristocrat Riccardo Federici, a military pilot.
Clara becomes the mistress of the Duce in 1936, and then divorces her husband. From now on, her life is connected only with Benito Mussolini, with whom she did not leave until her last breath. He was the meaning of her life, and she loved him sincerely and disinterestedly, which cannot be said of her brother. Marcello Petacci made the most of his sister’s relationship with the Duce.
Mussolini's legendary love
Mussolini and Clara Petacci met daily at the Palazzo Venezia. She had her own key. There is evidence that Klara did not shine with her mind, but she had the wisdom to never arrange beloved scenes of jealousy for her beloved, because he was still put in a secret meeting room for women. And Clara suppressed the torment of jealousy, from which she even lost consciousness. For Mussolini, short meetings with numerous representatives of the weaker sex, eager for intimacy with him, were necessary, like air. For them, he interrupted even important government meetings. According to some accounts, the Duce drew his vital energy from these connections.
Blind love
But he loved in the highest sense of the word (provided that higher concepts are applicable to Mussolini) only to Clara. He gave her presents, one of which was the villa “Camiluccia”.
And the Duce, who could not refuse her anything, organized a whole parliament, considering the requests of Italians who asked his beloved for help. Clara Petacci Benito Mussolini forgave everything, not thinking about herself. In 1941, she underwent a criminal abortion, after which she recovered for a long time only in order to meet her Benito again.
Meeting with the wife of a loved one
In the same 1941, she was visited by the lawful wife of the Duce, Raquel Mussolini, who had five children from the dictator - three sons and two daughters. Interestingly, the middle son of Mussolini became the father of Italian cinema, the patron of all the great neorealists and the owner of the magazine "Cinema." Raquel cursed Clara at the meeting, foretelling her the future of a cheap prostitute in the famous Piazzo Loreto. But reality turned out to be worse.
Arrest and return to politics
Benito Mussolini at times when he was in danger, always asked Clara to leave him and leave the country, her relatives and her begged for this, but she never betrayed her beloved. After the arrest of Mussolini in 1943, right at the exit from the palace of Victor Emanuel, who could not help the disgraced dude in any way, the dictator was imprisoned in the Albergo Rifugio Hotel, located in Apenins. From there, he was abducted by Otto Scarzeni and taken to Germany in a suitcase.
Sick and tired of everything, he wanted to retire and settle somewhere with his Clara. But Hitler threatened him with the destruction of Milan, Turin and Genoa if Mussolini did not return to politics. And in Italy, a new fascist state is being created, the unofficial name of which is the Republic of Salo (by the name of the capital).
Death united them
Clara Petacci, whose biography is now inextricably linked with Mussolini, lives with him in Lombardy, on Lake Garda in Gargnano. She continues to love with all her heart the patient, no one needed Mussolini, who is now only a miserable puppet in the hands of Hitler. Clarita, as Mussolini affectionately called her, has many nicknames, she is called the last, and Platonic, and the only love of the Duce. The tragic and even heroic death of this woman, even if Mussolini did not love her, and he loved her very much, raises Clarita above the level of a simple lover.
Although de facto she remained just a friend, and Eva Brown, already doomed to death, demanded that Hitler marry, not wanting to repeat the fate of Clara Petacci - to remain in history only a lover of the dictator.
Captivity
When the Ude war was nearing its end and the Americans had already landed in Italy, the mother again began to beg Clara to leave the country, to which her daughter replied that she could not live without Benito. On April 27, 1945, an SS detachment attempted to take Mussolini to Austria. Clara, saying goodbye to loved ones, sets off on a journey with Mussolini. But almost at the border, Italian partisans surround the detachment and, recognizing the Duce, demand its extradition in exchange for saving the lives of the SS men themselves. The exchange took place, although the Germans were sent by Hitler himself precisely for Mussolini.
The night before death
The partisan commander repulsed the Duce from the angry crowd and put him in a temporary prison, where Clara immediately asked.
The partisans could not help but appreciate the sacrifice of the woman, and the last night the lovers spent together. According to some claims, this was generally their only night: on Lake Garda, Clara lived next to Villa Mussolini, and they just saw each other daily.
Lynching
The guerrilla commander Bellini, being a career officer, was going to strictly comply with the law and transfer Mussolini to the hands of the authorities of the new Italy, and America demanded the extradition of Mussolini. But Colonel Valerio intervened in the events, who recaptured Mussolini from the partisans and took them along with Clara to the side of the Belmonte villa, at the gates of which the tragedy erupted. Clara was pushed to the side all the time, and she covered herself with her beloved. They killed them the third time - before that there were misfires.
Crowd brutality
The dead, especially Mussolini, were brutally mocked, as a result of which the body of the Duce turned into a mess. The colonel reveled in his deeds, but even this seemed to him insufficient. Bloodied bodies were taken to Milan, and here in Loreto Square they were hung upside down on meat hooks. Clara Petacci, whose execution, no matter which side, ennobled the death of the bloody dictator, shared his fate with him until the last minute. Very few on this earth can boast of such love, loyalty and devotion of a woman. And whatever one may say, the demoniac communist terrorist Valerio in this story looks disgusting.
The beauty, the aristocrat and the rich woman voluntarily accepted a savage death, and the crowd, which had recently howled with delight when they saw the beloved Duce, spat, danced (some publicly relieved) on the mutilated bodies of Mussolini and his girlfriend.
Relatives
Clara Petacci's family was persecuted after her death. However, after the arrest in 1943 and the liberation of northern Italy by the Germans, where many of Klara’s relatives were in custody, some of them managed to leave the country. The main corrupt official, Brother Marcello, was captured and killed in 1945 while trying to cross the Swiss border, and huge amounts of money and jewelry were found with him.