大象传媒

The time was late October 1944. The place was the northern end of the Appenine mountains in Italy and it was raining as it had been doing for some weeks. I was an artillery man, part of an observation crew of four waiting to move up with the infantry. Mules had arrived overnight and they had been loaded with radio sets and batteries.
By dawn we were on the move through the hills until we joined up with Battalion H.Q. The objective for the infantry was the small town of Predappio and then on to the plain of Lombardy. The town was taken without too much hassle, but in passing through we had seen a castle strategically placed on a hilll overlooking both the town and the plain beyond - an ideal observation post, it would also get us out of the rain.
The town of Predappio was in fact the birthplace of Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator, and the castle itself was known as Rocca delle Caminate and had been given to Mussolini by the adoring townsfolk.
We took over the castle using the tower as an observation post as it had a wonderful view over the plain and the town of Forli.
We stayed in the castle for three days during which time the infantry moved on, and I took the opportunity to explore the place. It had however been somewhat damaged by our heavy artillery and some dive-bombing.
Mussolini had not left much - no beds in the bedrooms, no food in the kitchens but the library proved to be a veritable Alladin's cave. Unfortunately it was rapidly going underwater because of a huge hole in the roof.
On the floor were a number of parchment scrolls which, on examination proved to be illuminated addresses to Mussolini from towns all over Italy. I picked up a couple that were still dry and put them in my pack to save for posterity. They are approximately 20 X 16 inches (50 X 40cms) One is ffrom Firenze (Florence)and the other from Rovigo, a town in northern Italy. They are exquisitely painted and the expert on the Antiques Roadshow was fascinated by them - he had seen nothing like them before. Both were signed by the painters and dated 1923 - the year Mussolini took power. The Florentine one is, I believe, in Latin and the capital letters starting each paragraph are in gold lettering, whilst the other from Rovigo is in Italian and has beautifully coloured small pictures of both Rovigo and Venice. also in the room was a painting of Mussolini as a Samurai warrior wearing an Italian steel helmet. On a shelf were a number of copies of a book written by Mussolini when he was working at the Socialist Chamber of Labour offices in the town of Trent (then in Austria). His pay of approximately 拢10 per month was augmented by him giving French lessons. he was also assistant editor on the local socialist newspaper Il Popolo in the weekly supplement of which he wrote a serial "Claudia Particalla L'amante del Cardinale - Grande Romanza del Cardinale Emanuel Madruzzo". It is a sad touching story of the intrigues of papal princes in the middle ages when, I believe Cardinals were allowed to have mistresses. The story covers the period when this priviledge was stopped and the sad parting of the two lovers. In 1928 it was printed as a book in New York and I brought home an English translation entitled "The Cardinals Mistress". It was printed in half a dozen languages. I also picked up a number of photographs of his family, one of which contains a picture of a child who I think may have been Mussolini's Granddaughter Allesandra who I believe was a senator in the Italian parliament until recently. another showed Mussolini and his supporters in the march on Rome in April 1923 when he took power. The odd thing is that he is wearing a top hat.
In the grounds of the castle was a mausoleum in which were the bodies of his parents and also his son Bruno who was I believe killed in the Abyssinian war. There was a place reserved for Benito.
On the second day a Daily Telegraph reporter arrived and my father was able to obtain a cutting which I still have.
On day three we moved on and the war took priority again - and it is still raining.

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