The Martignoni Affair

The material for this article is drawn from eleven documents in the U.S. National Archives 'World War II collection of seized enemy records: Personal papers of Benito Mussolini ...' T586, roll 425. My attention was drawn to them by the work of the French historian Max Gallo on the subsidies paid by Italy to French and British fascists. Angiolo Martignoni was a conservative Councillor of State in the Italian-speaking Swiss canton of the Ticino from 1927, when he was 37 years old, to 1947. He died in 1952. Obituary notices, whatever the complexion of the paper, paid tribute to his patriotism and to his work as minister for agriculture. Was he in fact a patriot or a potential Quisling? In April 1930 he was received by Mussolini at the Palazzo Venezia. Shortly after, he asked the Duce for 150,000 francs to promote the development of fascism in the Ticino, and by the end of the year he had received subsidies totalling 80,000 francs

Ancient history · Political science · European history and politics · History · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Law