Bruno Mussolini
Encyclopedia
Bruno Mussolini was the second son of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini
and Mussolini's wife Rachele
.
in Lombardy
. His father, Benito Mussolini, was the editor of "The People of Italy"
(Il Popolo d'Italia
) newspaper before the birth and, on 22 April, needed to be away for the day in Genoa
. Mussolini indicated to his wife that he did not want her to give birth prior to his return. In his words: "I don't want to be the last to be told again as I was with Vittorio
." That evening, the manager of the newspaper greeted Mussolini at the station with a broad grin and the words: "It's a boy."
and his parents feared he would never recover. Soon after the doctors pronounced him out of danger, he suffered from a bronchial complaint
. By this time, one-year-old Bruno's weight had dropped to about fifteen pounds.
As a young student, 9-year-old Bruno adeptly, if not correctly, answered a schoolteacher's question about grammar. An examiner is reported to have said: "Now Bruno, tell me in what person one cannot command." In response, Bruno tactfully responded: "There are two persons one cannot command, the King
and my father."
At age 12, Bruno took after his father and tackled journalism. He and his older brother Vittorio
published a weekly called The Boys' Pen (La Penna del Ragazzi).
Bruno, in the manner of a dictator's son, grew to like boxing, fast women, and faster cars. In 1935, at age 17, Bruno became Italy's youngest pilot.
. His wife was the daughter of the head of the Ministry of Education's Contemporary Art Bureau. On 18 March 1940 in Rome, Bruno and his wife had their first child, a daughter, named Mariana.
(Regia Aeronautica Italiana
) and became a pilot. He flew for the Regia Aeronautica during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. In September, before the Kingdom of Italy invaded the Ethiopian Empire
, Air Sergeant Bruno Mussolini, 17, Air Second Lieutenant Vittorio Mussolini
, 18, and Air Captain Count Nobile Galeazzo Ciano
, 32, sailed from Naples
to Africa
aboard the MS Saturnia. After Ethiopia, Bruno also participated in the Spanish Civil War
and World War II
. Unlike his brother Vittorio, Bruno was considered to be a serious pilot. In addition to participating in various conflicts, Bruno was involved in setting flight airspeed records in a 1938 flight to Brazil
. In August 1941, he was killed test piloting a new prototype of the Piaggio P.108
, a four engine Italian bomber.
near the San Giusto Airport in Pisa
. The aircraft got too low and crashed into a house. The cockpit section was separated from the rest of the aircraft and Bruno Mussolini died of his injuries. The machine did not catch fire but was nevertheless totally destroyed in the impact. Five members of the crew were injured and three were killed. Bruno was one of the three killed. Benito Mussolini rushed to the Santa Chiara Hospital to be at the side of his dead son.
Bruno's sacrifice to the nation prompted his father to compose a booklet entitled "I Talk With Bruno" (Parlo con Bruno). The booklet implied timeless intimacy between the two and mixed Fascist, Catholic, and familial piety. However, the truth was that Benito Mussolini hardly knew Bruno.
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
and Mussolini's wife Rachele
Rachele Mussolini
Donna Rachele Mussolini was the mistress, wife, and widow of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.-Biography:...
.
Biography
Bruno Mussolini was born in MilanMilan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
in Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
. His father, Benito Mussolini, was the editor of "The People of Italy"
Il Popolo d'Italia
Il Popolo d'Italia , was an Italian newspaper founded by Benito Mussolini on November 15, 1914, as a result of his split with the Italian Socialist Party. Il Popolo d'Italia ran until July 24, 1943 and became the foundation for the Fascist movement in Italy after World War I...
(Il Popolo d'Italia
Il Popolo d'Italia
Il Popolo d'Italia , was an Italian newspaper founded by Benito Mussolini on November 15, 1914, as a result of his split with the Italian Socialist Party. Il Popolo d'Italia ran until July 24, 1943 and became the foundation for the Fascist movement in Italy after World War I...
) newspaper before the birth and, on 22 April, needed to be away for the day in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
. Mussolini indicated to his wife that he did not want her to give birth prior to his return. In his words: "I don't want to be the last to be told again as I was with Vittorio
Vittorio Mussolini
Vittorio Mussolini was an Italian film critic and producer. He was also the second son of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. However, he was the first son of Mussolini with his second wife Rachele.-Biography:...
." That evening, the manager of the newspaper greeted Mussolini at the station with a broad grin and the words: "It's a boy."
Childhood
In 1919, Bruno Mussolini caught diphtheriaDiphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
and his parents feared he would never recover. Soon after the doctors pronounced him out of danger, he suffered from a bronchial complaint
Asthma
Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...
. By this time, one-year-old Bruno's weight had dropped to about fifteen pounds.
As a young student, 9-year-old Bruno adeptly, if not correctly, answered a schoolteacher's question about grammar. An examiner is reported to have said: "Now Bruno, tell me in what person one cannot command." In response, Bruno tactfully responded: "There are two persons one cannot command, the King
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
Victor Emmanuel III was a member of the House of Savoy and King of Italy . In addition, he claimed the crowns of Ethiopia and Albania and claimed the titles Emperor of Ethiopia and King of Albania , which were unrecognised by the Great Powers...
and my father."
At age 12, Bruno took after his father and tackled journalism. He and his older brother Vittorio
Vittorio Mussolini
Vittorio Mussolini was an Italian film critic and producer. He was also the second son of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. However, he was the first son of Mussolini with his second wife Rachele.-Biography:...
published a weekly called The Boys' Pen (La Penna del Ragazzi).
Bruno, in the manner of a dictator's son, grew to like boxing, fast women, and faster cars. In 1935, at age 17, Bruno became Italy's youngest pilot.
Marriage
On 7 November 1938, Bruno married Gina Ruberti in RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. His wife was the daughter of the head of the Ministry of Education's Contemporary Art Bureau. On 18 March 1940 in Rome, Bruno and his wife had their first child, a daughter, named Mariana.
Pilot
In 1935, Bruno Mussolini joined the Royal Italian Air ForceRegia Aeronautica
The Italian Royal Air Force was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946...
(Regia Aeronautica Italiana
Regia Aeronautica
The Italian Royal Air Force was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946...
) and became a pilot. He flew for the Regia Aeronautica during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. In September, before the Kingdom of Italy invaded the Ethiopian Empire
Ethiopian Empire
The Ethiopian Empire also known as Abyssinia, covered a geographical area that the present-day northern half of Ethiopia and Eritrea covers, and included in its peripheries Zeila, Djibouti, Yemen and Western Saudi Arabia...
, Air Sergeant Bruno Mussolini, 17, Air Second Lieutenant Vittorio Mussolini
Vittorio Mussolini
Vittorio Mussolini was an Italian film critic and producer. He was also the second son of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. However, he was the first son of Mussolini with his second wife Rachele.-Biography:...
, 18, and Air Captain Count Nobile Galeazzo Ciano
Galeazzo Ciano
Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari was an Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Benito Mussolini's son-in-law. In early 1944 Count Ciano was shot by firing squad at the behest of his father-in-law, Mussolini under pressure from Nazi Germany.-Early life:Ciano was born in...
, 32, sailed from Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
to Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
aboard the MS Saturnia. After Ethiopia, Bruno also participated in the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Unlike his brother Vittorio, Bruno was considered to be a serious pilot. In addition to participating in various conflicts, Bruno was involved in setting flight airspeed records in a 1938 flight to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. In August 1941, he was killed test piloting a new prototype of the Piaggio P.108
Piaggio P.108
The Piaggio P.108 Bombardiere was the only Italian four-engine heavy bomber used by the Axis powers during World War II. The prototype first flew in 1939 and it entered service in 1941....
, a four engine Italian bomber.
Death
On 7 August 1941, 23-year-old Bruno Mussolini was flying in one of the prototypes of a "secret" bomberPiaggio P.108
The Piaggio P.108 Bombardiere was the only Italian four-engine heavy bomber used by the Axis powers during World War II. The prototype first flew in 1939 and it entered service in 1941....
near the San Giusto Airport in Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
. The aircraft got too low and crashed into a house. The cockpit section was separated from the rest of the aircraft and Bruno Mussolini died of his injuries. The machine did not catch fire but was nevertheless totally destroyed in the impact. Five members of the crew were injured and three were killed. Bruno was one of the three killed. Benito Mussolini rushed to the Santa Chiara Hospital to be at the side of his dead son.
Bruno's sacrifice to the nation prompted his father to compose a booklet entitled "I Talk With Bruno" (Parlo con Bruno). The booklet implied timeless intimacy between the two and mixed Fascist, Catholic, and familial piety. However, the truth was that Benito Mussolini hardly knew Bruno.
See also
- Benito Albino Mussolini - Bruno Mussolini's older half brother.
- Vittorio MussoliniVittorio MussoliniVittorio Mussolini was an Italian film critic and producer. He was also the second son of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. However, he was the first son of Mussolini with his second wife Rachele.-Biography:...
- Bruno Mussolini's older brother. - Romano MussoliniRomano MussoliniRomano Mussolini was the fourth and youngest son of Benito Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943...
- Bruno Mussolini's younger brother. - István HorthyIstván HorthyIstván Horthy de Nagybánya ) was Hungarian Regent Admiral Miklós Horthy's eldest son, a politician, and, during World War II, a fighter pilot.-Biography:...
- Son of HungarianKingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)The Kingdom of Hungary also known as the Regency, existed from 1920 to 1946 and was a de facto country under Regent Miklós Horthy. Horthy officially represented the abdicated Hungarian monarchy of Charles IV, Apostolic King of Hungary...
RegentRegentA regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
Admiral Miklós HorthyMiklós HorthyMiklós Horthy de Nagybánya was the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary during the interwar years and throughout most of World War II, serving from 1 March 1920 to 15 October 1944. Horthy was styled "His Serene Highness the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary" .Admiral Horthy was an officer of the...
, also killed in an aircraft-related incident