Galeazzo Ciano, "Glory to Me": Who was the repentant fascist who paid with his life for his revolt against Mussolini?

Who gets the glory? "To us!" the fascists answered in chorus. And in 1930, glory was a precious commodity. It was said that the boys who died in the trenches of the Great War had covered themselves in glory and honor on the battlefield, even though they probably would have preferred to live a simple life in the wheat fields. In 1930, the Great War was long gone, but the effects of glory were felt by the living.

Young Galeazzo Ciano , son of Costanzo, knew something about this. Thanks to his father's glory in the war, he found himself living in wealth, as well as the title of Count of Cortellazzo, which opened many doors within the fascist hierarchy and the palaces of the Roman nobility. There, he met the young Edda Mussolini. She, too, was covered in reflected glory. They would become the most famous and envied couple of the twenty-year period. Mimmo Gangemi, a nimble, creative, and never monotonous writer, has accustomed us to surprises, from The Lady of Ellis Island to The Mean Judge to The Restless Atom. Today he places his ultra-modern "camera" inside the famous Ciano-Mussolini duo , and from this unique and privileged vantage point, he focuses on the events and protagonists of an important period in our national history, from the early 1930s to the dark tragedy of Salò. Was it true love between Galeazzo and Edda?

At the beginning there was certainly calculation, especially on His part, but, according to the Calabrian writer, it was not just calculation since the evidence of love, attraction, and complicity that allowed the marriage to withstand mutual betrayals and, subsequently, the onslaught of history is evident. Mimmo Gangemi shifts the lens to the main protagonists of the twenty-year Fascist period, starting with the Duce, a prisoner of his own propaganda about his supposed gift of infallibility while in reality he was a cynical and insatiable devourer of glory to be won through the immense sacrifices of the Italian people. The camera pans over the mediocrity of the leaders who remained primitive, crude, and violent, even if the writer does not tar everyone with the same brush and in fact feels the need to focus on the certainly more complex personalities of Italo Balbo , Dino Grandi, Bottai (despite the racial laws ), and even Ettore Muti and Pavolini.

Then the lens shifts back to Ciano, a cynical grabber of easy glory, achieved from the skies of Abyssinia in air raids against unarmed and exterminated masses of "negroes" without any danger, but transformed into heroic deeds by the regime's radio and newspapers. The glory of the Duce's son-in-law grows, and the doors of power swing open, reaching the highest levels of the fascist hierarchy and the Italian government. Despite the prestigious post of Foreign Minister, he fails to influence the Duce's ill-fated decision to sign the " Pact of Steel" with Germany. He doesn't agree with it, but approves it in order to remain in the soft embrace of power. Then the wind changes and a storm breaks. The Duce, convinced he has an exceptional instinct against everything and everyone, leads Italy into war on the side of Nazi Germany. Ciano grumbles under his breath but essentially remains silent, as he has always done. A silence that is, all things considered, comfortable, but one that cannot last forever. After the initial Axis successes, the tide of war turns, and young Italian soldiers, poorly armed and often poorly commanded by a general staff composed overwhelmingly of incompetent and felonious generals, die on the battlefronts. Cities suffer bombings, and hunger rages. Ciano cannot remain silent and searches for a way out of the war and fascism.

He wants to save himself and his family, and perhaps, secondarily, Italy as well, from the immense tragedy of war. He thinks he's found it by establishing relations with the Royal House and signing the Grandi motion. In effect, a vote of no confidence in Mussolini , without imagining the consequences of that signature on the regime and on himself. Now Ciano is alone, and precisely in moments like these, Giangaleazzo, Edda, and their children discover they are a family. They are a lifeboat that must sail against the wind. Edda transforms herself into an exceptional rower against everything and everyone, if necessary, even against her own father, to save her family and the father of her children. Glory is no longer needed. Who knows if Ciano, locked up in the Verona prison , had time to reflect on the futility of glory, who knows if he felt remorse for the unarmed blacks killed in Abyssinia, for the persecution of the Jews, for the anti-fascists killed or locked up in prisons.

Outside, Edda fights like a lioness. She still believes the Duce will act like a father and grandfather, but she must face the fact that the man she had so adored, respected, and loved had become a ridiculous puppet in the Fuhrer's hands. Edda doesn't hesitate to oppose her father in order to save her husband, whom she discovers she loves and feels she can't do without. And perhaps it is precisely Edda and his children that Giangaleazzo is thinking of as he turns around before the firing squad. He doesn't want to be shot in the back; he doesn't think he deserves it. He's not a traitor. But he no longer thinks of glory but rather of the years Edda and her children will have to remain in the world, and he doesn't want them to feel the weight of his surname. During the tragic moments spent in the Scalzi prison in Verona, Giangaleazzo discovers that he loves Edda and her children intensely. But now it's too late. History had crushed the entire family like an insignificant nutshell. With "To Whom the Glory Be ," published by Solferino, Mimmo Gangemi confirms his exceptional talent, his being a thoroughbred writer, his remarkable ability to return to a known story to trace aspects that have escaped historians, family chiaroscuro that reflect on the great history. What more can I say? Does he deserve the "Strega Prize "?

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Ilario Ammendolia