Mistress, wife, and widow of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (1890?1979)
Rachele Mussolini
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/Portrait_-_Rachele_Guidi.jpg/220px-Portrait_-_Rachele_Guidi.jpg) |
Born
| Rachele Guidi
(
1890-04-11
)
11 April 1890
|
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Died
| 30 October 1979
(1979-10-30)
(aged 89)
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Nationality
| Italian
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Spouse
|
(
m.
1915;
died
1945)
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Children
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Rachele Guidi
(
Italian pronunciation:
[ra?k?ːle
??wiːdi]
; 11 April 1890 ? 30 October 1979), also known (particularly in Italy) as
Donna Rachele
[1]
(Italian for "Lady Rachel") and incorrectly as
Rachele Mussolini
in the English-speaking world, was the second wife of
Prime Minister of Italy
and
fascist
leader
Benito Mussolini
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Rachele Guidi was born in
Predappio
,
Romagna
,
Kingdom of Italy
. She was born into a peasant family and was the daughter of Agostino Guidi and wife Anna Lombardi. After the death of Rachele's father, her mother became the lover of the widowed
Alessandro Mussolini
.
Relationship, marriage and children
[
edit
]
In 1910, Rachele Guidi moved in with Alessandro's son,
Benito Mussolini
. In 1914, Mussolini married his first wife,
Ida Dalser
. Though the records of that marriage were destroyed by Mussolini's government, an edict from the city of Milan ordering Mussolini to make
maintenance payments
to "his wife Ida Dalser" and their child was overlooked.
[2]
Shortly before his son, Benito Albino Mussolini, was born to Ida Dalser, Rachele Guidi and Benito Mussolini were married in a civil ceremony in
Treviglio
,
Lombardy
on 17 December 1915. In 1925, they renewed their vows in a religious service (after his rise to power).
Children
[
edit
]
Rachele Guidi bore five children by Benito Mussolini. Rachele and Benito Mussolini had two daughters and three sons.
- Edda
(1910?1995)
- Vittorio
(1916?1997)
- Bruno
(1918?1941)
- Romano
(1927?2006)
- Anna Maria
(1929?1968).
During her husband's regime
[
edit
]
During the reign of Mussolini's
Fascist regime
, Rachele Guidi was portrayed as the model
Fascist
housewife and mother. She remained loyal to Mussolini until the end but, on 28 April 1945, was not with him when he and his mistress,
Claretta Petacci
, were
captured and executed
by
Italian partisans
. Although she tried to flee from Italy after
World War II
, she was arrested in April 1945 in
Como
, close to
Switzerland
, by Italian partisans. She was handed to the
US Army
and kept on
Ischia Island
but was released after several months.
Final years
[
edit
]
In her later life, Rachele Guidi ran a restaurant in her native village of Predappio. She eventually received a pension from the
Italian Republic
in 1975. It turned out that Mussolini had not received a salary from the state and so she could not receive a pension.
Author
[
edit
]
With Albert Zarca, she wrote a biography of her husband that was translated into English as
Mussolini: An Intimate Biography
.
[3]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
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