GALEAZZO CIANO

'Gian Galeazzo Ciano, Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari' (March 18, 1903 – January 11, 1944), was Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Benito Mussolini's son-in-law.

Contents

Early life

Foreign Minister

Miscellaneous

References

Early life

Ciano was born in Livorno. He was the son of Admiral Count Costanzo Ciano, a veteran of World War I, founding member of the fascist party in Italy and re-organizer of the Italian Merchant Marine in the 20s. Ciano Sr was not above making a side profit from his public office (he was nicknamed "Ganascia" - "The Jaw") and as a side effect his son was soon used to live a high-profile glamorous life which he was to remain fond of until the end. After receiving his law degree, Ciano served as an attaché in Rio de Janeiro. In 1930, he married Edda Mussolini, with whom he soon left for Shanghai where he served as Italian Consul. Back in Italy, a few years later, he became the minister of press and propaganda.

Foreign Minister

He took part in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935-36) as a bomber squadron commander (his unit was dubbed "La Disperata") where Alessandro Pavolini (later to be his persecutor) served as lieutenant. Upon his hero comeback he became Foreign Minister in 1936, replacing Mussolini. The following year he organized the murder of the Rosselli Brothers(Carlo and Nello). Carlo Rosselli was an antifascist leader in exile who founded the Giustizia e Libertà movement, actively involved in the Spanish Civil War coordinating the efforts of Italian exiles against Franco and his nazi and fascist allies. Carlo and Nello Rosselli were killed in the french spa town of Bagnoles-de-l'Orne on June the 9th, 1937. He became increasingly disenchanted with Nazi Germany and the course of World War II. In the spring of 1943 following the Axis defeat in North Africa, setbacks on the Eastern Front, and with the Anglo-American assault on Sicily looming on the horizon, Ciano was totally against prosecution of the doomed war and actively pushed for Italy's exit from the conflict. He was silenced by being removed from his post and reassigned as ambassador to Vatican City. In this role he had to remain in Rome, under close watch of Mussolini. However Italy's position had become even more untenable with the coming summer, and court circles were already putting out feelers to the Allies.
On the night of July 24, Mussolini summoned the Fascist Grand Council to its first meeting since the start of the war. At this meeting, Mussolini announced that the Germans were thinking of evacuating the south. This led Count Dino Grandi to launch a blistering attack on his longtime comrade. Grandi moved a resolution asking the king to resume his full constitutional powers--in effect, a vote of no confidence in Mussolini. The motion carried by an unexpectedly large margin, 19-7, with Ciano voting in favor.
Mussolini didn't think the vote had any substantive value, and appeared for work the next morning as normal. That afternoon, Victor Emmanuel summoned him to the palace and dismissed him from office. Upon leaving the palace, Mussolini was arrested. For the next two months he was moved from place to place to hide him from the Germans. Ultimately Mussolini was sent to Gran Sasso, a mountain resort in central Italy (Abruzzo). He was kept there in complete isolation until rescued by the Germans. Mussolini then set up a puppet government in the area of northern Italy still under German occupation called the Italian Social Republic.
Ciano, having been dismissed from his post by the new government, was arrested by Mussolini's Italian Social Republic police for treason. Under German pressure, Mussolini had Ciano tried and executed by firing squad in Verona on January 11, 1944.

Miscellaneous

A number of films have depicted his life, including ''Mussolini and I'' (1985) in which he was played by Anthony Hopkins.
His son Fabrizio Ciano wrote a personal memoir entitled ''Quando il nonno fece fucilare papà'' ("When Grandpa had Daddy Shot").

References

★ ''The Ciano Diaries 1939-1943: The Complete, Unabridged Diaries of Count Galeazzo Ciano, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1936-1943'' (2000) ISBN 1-931313-74-1

★ ''Ciano's diplomatic papers: being a record of nearly 200 conversations held during the years 1936-42 with Hitler, Mussolini, Franco; together with important memoranda, letters, telegrams etc'' / edited by Malcolm Muggeridge; translated by Stuart Hood, London: Odhams Press, (1948)

★ Giordano Bruno Guerri - ''Un amore fascista. Benito, Edda e Galeazzo.'' (Mondadori, 2005) ISBN 88-04-53467-2

★ Ray Moseley - ''Mussolini's Shadow: The Double Life of Count Galeazzo Ciano'', (Yale University Press, 1999) ISBN 0-300-07917-6

★ R.J.B. Bosworth - ''Mussolini'' (Hodder Arnold, 2002) ISBN 0-340-73144-3

★ Michael Salter and Lorie Charlesworth - "Ribbentrop and the Ciano Diaries at the Nuremberg Trial" in ''Journal of International Criminal Justice'' 2006 4(1):103-127 doi:10.1093/jicj/mqi095

★ Fabrizio Ciano - ''Quando il nonno fece fucilare papà'' ("When Grandpa had Daddy Shot") Milano, Mondadori,. 1991