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Mussolini's Daughter: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe
A thrilling biography of Edda Mussolini—Benito Mussolini’s favorite daughter, one of the most influential women in 1930s Europe—and a heart-stopping account of the unraveling of the Fascist dream in Italy, from award-winning historian and author of the acclaimed Resistance Quartet, Caroline Moorehead “Reads like a page-turning thriller.”— BookPage Edda Mussolini was the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s oldest and favorite child. At 19, she was married to Count Galleazzo Ciano, Il Duce’s Minister for Foreign Affairs during the 1930s, the most turbulent decade in Italy’s fascist history. In the years preceding World War II, Edda ruled over Italy’s aristocratic families and the cultured and middle classes while selling Fascism on the international stage. How a young woman wielded such control is the heart of Moorehead’s fascinating history. The issues that emerge reveal not only a great deal about the power of fascism, but also the ease with which dictatorship so easily took hold in a country weakened by war and a continent mired in chaos and desperate for peace. Drawing on a wealth of archival material, some newly released, along with memoirs and personal papers, Mussolini’s Daughter paints a portrait of a woman in her twenties whose sheer force of character and ruthless narcissism helped impose a brutal and vulgar movement on a pliable and complicit society. Yet as Moorehead shows, not even Edda’s colossal willpower, her scheming, nor her father’s avowed love could save her husband from Mussolini’s brutal vengeance. As she did in her Resistance Quartet, Moorehead delves deep into the past, exploring what fascism felt like to those living under it, how it blossomed and grew, and how fascists and aristocrats joined forces to pursue ten years of extravagance, amorality, and excessive luxury—greed, excess, and ambition that set the world on fire. The result is a powerful portrait of a young woman who played a key role in one of the most terrifying and violent periods in human history.
432 pages, Paperback
First published October 18, 2022
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About the author
Caroline Moorehead
48 books259 followersCaroline Moorehead is the New York Times bestselling author of Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France; A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France; and Human Cargo: A Journey Among Refugees, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. An acclaimed biographer, Moorehead has also written for the New York Review of Books, the Guardian, the Times, and the Independent. She lives in London and Italy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
December 5, 2022
A very well-researched and educational read and an informative account of the unravelling of the fascist vision for Italy.
When this book was first recommended to me I was eager to get my hands on it for two reasons, firstly because I have read very little about Mussolini and his reign during World War II and secondly who wouldn't be captured by the title "Edda Mussolini: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe".
This is a terrific account of Mussolini, his background. family and the 20 years of fascist's rule. I finished this one a lot wiser than I began and was so impressed with Caroline Moorhead's attention to detail and research. However, I do think that Mussolini and his sidekicks are more a focus for the author in this book and I had expected the book to centre more on Edda Mussolini than it did. This was a slow read for me as it is full of facts and I had to concentrate to keep track of the numerous people and names mentioned throughout the book, who they were and where they belonged in the account.
I did however get a good sense of who Edda was and how she became her father's favourite child. Her marriage to Galeazzo Ciano, who went on to become the youngest Foreign Secretary in Italian History is well documented, from their affairs and vulgar lifestyle to the downturn of their fortunes in 1943 when Ciano voted against Mussolini in a plot to bring him down. The last few chapters centres on Edda and her years after her father's execution.
This is without doubt a fascinating story of a women who was interesting, complicated, clever, and flamboyant. I loved reading about the life of Edda Mussolini, but I certainly didn't warm to her as a person. I enjoyed the read and can highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy history and want a well written and researched account of Mussolini, his daughter Edda and the 20 years of Fascist Rule.
Delighted to have purchased a hard copy of this for my real life bookshelf.
When this book was first recommended to me I was eager to get my hands on it for two reasons, firstly because I have read very little about Mussolini and his reign during World War II and secondly who wouldn't be captured by the title "Edda Mussolini: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe".
This is a terrific account of Mussolini, his background. family and the 20 years of fascist's rule. I finished this one a lot wiser than I began and was so impressed with Caroline Moorhead's attention to detail and research. However, I do think that Mussolini and his sidekicks are more a focus for the author in this book and I had expected the book to centre more on Edda Mussolini than it did. This was a slow read for me as it is full of facts and I had to concentrate to keep track of the numerous people and names mentioned throughout the book, who they were and where they belonged in the account.
I did however get a good sense of who Edda was and how she became her father's favourite child. Her marriage to Galeazzo Ciano, who went on to become the youngest Foreign Secretary in Italian History is well documented, from their affairs and vulgar lifestyle to the downturn of their fortunes in 1943 when Ciano voted against Mussolini in a plot to bring him down. The last few chapters centres on Edda and her years after her father's execution.
This is without doubt a fascinating story of a women who was interesting, complicated, clever, and flamboyant. I loved reading about the life of Edda Mussolini, but I certainly didn't warm to her as a person. I enjoyed the read and can highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy history and want a well written and researched account of Mussolini, his daughter Edda and the 20 years of Fascist Rule.
Delighted to have purchased a hard copy of this for my real life bookshelf.
December 8, 2022
Not a bad book by any means, but like many biographies of women, it’s mostly about the men in their lives. Obviously Edda’s life was defined by who her father was and their relationship was complex, but it would’ve been nice to hear more about her as an individual vs. her father, her husband, etc.
January 6, 2023
There is a great deal about Mussolini's daughter to be found here, but it's just as much about the rise of fascism & Mussolini himself. I'm not sure the sub-title of "the most dangerous woman in Europe" really applies to this book...it's more a lament to how easily Italy fell to fascism and then into the thrall of Germany's -- and Hitler's -- ambitions. It's a fantastic read, and offers a slightly revisionist look at Italy's involvement in WW2, but it's far more than a look at Edda's life. Consider her an important supporting role in a much grander story....but a story well told.
December 9, 2022
Just as much about Mussolini as the daughter
November 28, 2022
As usual with Caroline Moorehead, this book is meticulously researched and very readable. The only small quibble I have about it is that it doesn’t fully do what it says on the tin. It’s much more of a general history of Mussolini himself and his period of fascist government in Italy. Edda was certainly his favourite child and had an influence on him, but I’m not sure about how dangerous she was. Her main influence was in being a go-between to Hitler and Nazi Germany, ensuring that Italy allied itself with the Nazis during the war.
Another small problem is that there are so many first hand sources, diaries and letters, that the detail and sheer number of characters can get confusing. One of the strongest and most influential was Edda’s husband, Ciano, who became Italy’s foreign minister and had an increasingly difficult relationship with Mussolini.
Another small problem is that there are so many first hand sources, diaries and letters, that the detail and sheer number of characters can get confusing. One of the strongest and most influential was Edda’s husband, Ciano, who became Italy’s foreign minister and had an increasingly difficult relationship with Mussolini.
August 10, 2023
I was curious to read MUSSOLINI'S DAUGHTER: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe" once I learned it had been published. Its author, Caroline Moorehead, I came to respect from having read several years ago her book, A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France, which had made a profound and poignant impression on me.
Edda Mussolini (1910-1994) was Benito Mussolini's eldest child, and his favorite. The book goes into considerable detail to trace the arc of Edda's life, as well as that of her parents and her husband, Galeazzo Ciano, who had served as Italy's Foreign Minister during the 1930s and much of World War II. Frankly, Edda did not stand out for me as a distinctive historical figure in her own right, except for the influence she sometimes exerted on her father and her role in spiriting out of Italy, Ciano's diaries, which were of considerable historical value.
What this book succeeds in doing is conveying to the reader the impact that Mussolini's rule had on Italy during his lifetime and beyond. That is what fascinated me the most, because unlike Germany under Hitler, I hadn't much of an awareness before reading Mussolini's Daughter of how the Fascist Party had insinuated itself in the life and culture of Italy between 1922 and 1943. But what Caroline Moorehead had to say about this period aptly summed up Benito Mussolini's effect on Italy ---
"... Mussolini had been revered by many, perhaps most Italians with an almost mystical devotion. His genius had been to understand that faith allows people to really believe that mountains can be moved. 'Illusion,' as he said long before he came to power, 'is, perhaps, the only reality in life.' He knew how to speak to them, play on their bad sides, their weaknesses and credulity, their scant political education, their tendency to bully and prevaricate and to prize above all the appearance of things. Mussolinisimo was a rite, a liturgy. And while social reforms were changing the lives of many Italians, they enjoyed the sense of success, the sporting triumphs, the paid holidays, the feeling that they had joined the Great Powers, that Italy belonged to them, 'the aristocracy of healthy ordinary people' and not to the decaying nobility. They were proud to be Italians. Mussolini's error was to be seduced by Hitler and allow himself to be convinced that weak, impoverished Italy could actually have any sway over a country as large and powerful as Germany; and to misread the Italians' aversion to racism, and their attachment to ... the comforts and reassurance of bourgeois life. They had not wanted to be warriors, new men, or breeders of little soldiers."
For anyone with an interest in Italian history, Mussolini's Daughter fits the bill.
Edda Mussolini (1910-1994) was Benito Mussolini's eldest child, and his favorite. The book goes into considerable detail to trace the arc of Edda's life, as well as that of her parents and her husband, Galeazzo Ciano, who had served as Italy's Foreign Minister during the 1930s and much of World War II. Frankly, Edda did not stand out for me as a distinctive historical figure in her own right, except for the influence she sometimes exerted on her father and her role in spiriting out of Italy, Ciano's diaries, which were of considerable historical value.
What this book succeeds in doing is conveying to the reader the impact that Mussolini's rule had on Italy during his lifetime and beyond. That is what fascinated me the most, because unlike Germany under Hitler, I hadn't much of an awareness before reading Mussolini's Daughter of how the Fascist Party had insinuated itself in the life and culture of Italy between 1922 and 1943. But what Caroline Moorehead had to say about this period aptly summed up Benito Mussolini's effect on Italy ---
"... Mussolini had been revered by many, perhaps most Italians with an almost mystical devotion. His genius had been to understand that faith allows people to really believe that mountains can be moved. 'Illusion,' as he said long before he came to power, 'is, perhaps, the only reality in life.' He knew how to speak to them, play on their bad sides, their weaknesses and credulity, their scant political education, their tendency to bully and prevaricate and to prize above all the appearance of things. Mussolinisimo was a rite, a liturgy. And while social reforms were changing the lives of many Italians, they enjoyed the sense of success, the sporting triumphs, the paid holidays, the feeling that they had joined the Great Powers, that Italy belonged to them, 'the aristocracy of healthy ordinary people' and not to the decaying nobility. They were proud to be Italians. Mussolini's error was to be seduced by Hitler and allow himself to be convinced that weak, impoverished Italy could actually have any sway over a country as large and powerful as Germany; and to misread the Italians' aversion to racism, and their attachment to ... the comforts and reassurance of bourgeois life. They had not wanted to be warriors, new men, or breeders of little soldiers."
For anyone with an interest in Italian history, Mussolini's Daughter fits the bill.
November 30, 2022
Great as a history book narrative but not sure there’s enough on her to warrant a whole book. Seems like the author just padded her story with all the things we already knew about her dad to make the book long enough. Doesn’t make it a bad book, just not many revelations.
March 29, 2023
Wait, whom is this about?
April 5, 2024
Excellent! Absolutely fascinating.
October 23, 2024
An okay book on Mussolini’s daughter, lots of times the author uses untranslated Italian phrases which is annoying. I felt for similar material it was more profitable to just read the actual Ciano Diaries.
November 26, 2022
Edda, oldest and favorite child of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, was spoiled but clever, wild and flamboyant but brave and loyal. Married at 19 to Count Galleazzo Ciano, who would become her father's Minister for Foreign Affairs during the 1930s, Edda was charged with selling Fascism to the middle class Italians and on the international stage. Her father's confidant, she played a role in steering Italy to join forces with Hitler. However, Edda's fortunes fell rapidly in 1943 when Ciano voted against Mussolini in an attempt to bring him down and the Americans drove deeper into the heart of Italy.
Elegantly written, painstakingly researched and with a fine eye for detail, this book is a fascinating read. Although it focuses on the complex and deeply conflicted Edda Mussoilini, Moorehead also gives a clear and balanced account of the growth of Fascism, the extravagance and amorality of the times, and its later collapse.
Elegantly written, painstakingly researched and with a fine eye for detail, this book is a fascinating read. Although it focuses on the complex and deeply conflicted Edda Mussoilini, Moorehead also gives a clear and balanced account of the growth of Fascism, the extravagance and amorality of the times, and its later collapse.
February 6, 2024
As with most books about the offspring of a famous person, the book tends to be more about the parent then the child. This is the case with this book; it was more about Mussolini and fascism than it was about Edda. It's subtitled "the most dangerous woman in Europe" but I did not get that at all from the book. Who was afraid of her? Her husband and her father both had numerous mistresses and yet she did nothing about it. After the arrest of both her father and husband, she then became the focal point of the book, but there was only about 50 pages left. If you truly want to get to know Edda Mussolini, this is not the book.
July 24, 2024
Although non-fiction it reads like a thriller - hard to put down - wonderfully written. The insight into Italy’s fascist years portrayed brilliantly. Regarding Edda herself though: no surprises here - just a typical life of power and privilege only possible to a relative or favourite of a dictator due to insane levels of corruption …same now, same as it ever was.
December 28, 2022
Why was Edda Mussolini so dangerous? Don't expect to learn anything about that in this boom. Mostly about the men in her life, there really is not a lot here that makes foe much discussion of her actual power, if she had any. Sadly disappointed in this one
March 8, 2025
Barely about Edda
January 27, 2023
Edda Mussolini’s life was so entwined with her father’s that her biography pulls the reader into the development of Fascism and Italy’s devastating partnership with Nazi Germany. Caroline Moorehead does a great job in presenting Edda’s complex world of family and politics.
Through Edda’s saga you learn of Italy’s role in the Spanish Civil War (larger than I had expected) and why Ethopia had to be invaded from Mussolini’s perspective. You see how Hitler courted the Italians who considered Germans crude. The purpose and governance of the “Republic of Salo” are clarified as are the official and unofficial Italian policies regarding the Jews. While you know the ending, understanding the means of getting there fills you with emotion as the tragic part drags on. While Edda lived to be 84, her active life essentially ended at 36.
Edda was Benito Mussolini’s first born child and they bonded right away. She looked like him and had his temperament. As her life began, father was a socialist, a journalist and was mostly impoverished. When Edda was 4, her mother, Rachele, married her father whose lover (quickly abandoned) had just delivered a child. In building his career in leading a party of “family values” her father, seldom home, and took mistresses. While he rose in power and rank Rachele maintained her peasant demeanor.
It seems that Edda’s marriage to the aristocratic Galeazzo Ciano was a whim, but the wedding was not. It was a giant national (media) affair. Being the Duce’s son-in-law led to a posting in Shanghai where the couple succeeded and learned the diplomatic ropes. They seem to be a power couple, entertaining and being entertained.
The early years of the Duce’s rule were good for the wealthy. Edda often left her 3 children with staff to enjoy life on Capri where she bought a villa. She traveled on her own, and while still in her 20’s was used by her father for soft diplomacy. She wowed London with her sense of style. Hitler had a State dinner to honor her and she dined with the Goebbels who let a pet leopard join the parties. Both Edda and her husband were known for having many lovers and Edda was also known also for excessive drinking.
Moorehead describes Hitlers long courtship of Mussolini. Their eventual agreement required war. When war comes both father and daughter are up for it. Edda’s husband, who is active in the Mussolini administration, is not. Count Ciano sees the imbalance of resources and the devastation to come. He tries within the system to stop it. Given the family and “political politics” he had to walk a fine line. He cleverly gets himself appointed to a post at the Vatican where there was also anti-war sentiment. What follows is a description of how, through personal and professional tragedy, Mussolini comes to see his dance with Hitler was a master-slave relationship.
In the end, party girl Edda is heroic on behalf of her husband. She preserves his diaries. She fights for her children. She survives. Her father is found at a routine stop by partisans and the result is the humiliating end of the Duce and his last mistress (who tries to escape in a mink coat).
You almost cry (or maybe you do) understanding all that went on before. as Ciano faces death, Edda crawls into Switzerland and American tanks roll down the streets of Rome. Former rank and file fascist supporters celebrate … It is all here.
This is highly recommended not only for the clarification of the Italy at that time, but for the many parallels you can see in the situation of the world today.
Through Edda’s saga you learn of Italy’s role in the Spanish Civil War (larger than I had expected) and why Ethopia had to be invaded from Mussolini’s perspective. You see how Hitler courted the Italians who considered Germans crude. The purpose and governance of the “Republic of Salo” are clarified as are the official and unofficial Italian policies regarding the Jews. While you know the ending, understanding the means of getting there fills you with emotion as the tragic part drags on. While Edda lived to be 84, her active life essentially ended at 36.
Edda was Benito Mussolini’s first born child and they bonded right away. She looked like him and had his temperament. As her life began, father was a socialist, a journalist and was mostly impoverished. When Edda was 4, her mother, Rachele, married her father whose lover (quickly abandoned) had just delivered a child. In building his career in leading a party of “family values” her father, seldom home, and took mistresses. While he rose in power and rank Rachele maintained her peasant demeanor.
It seems that Edda’s marriage to the aristocratic Galeazzo Ciano was a whim, but the wedding was not. It was a giant national (media) affair. Being the Duce’s son-in-law led to a posting in Shanghai where the couple succeeded and learned the diplomatic ropes. They seem to be a power couple, entertaining and being entertained.
The early years of the Duce’s rule were good for the wealthy. Edda often left her 3 children with staff to enjoy life on Capri where she bought a villa. She traveled on her own, and while still in her 20’s was used by her father for soft diplomacy. She wowed London with her sense of style. Hitler had a State dinner to honor her and she dined with the Goebbels who let a pet leopard join the parties. Both Edda and her husband were known for having many lovers and Edda was also known also for excessive drinking.
Moorehead describes Hitlers long courtship of Mussolini. Their eventual agreement required war. When war comes both father and daughter are up for it. Edda’s husband, who is active in the Mussolini administration, is not. Count Ciano sees the imbalance of resources and the devastation to come. He tries within the system to stop it. Given the family and “political politics” he had to walk a fine line. He cleverly gets himself appointed to a post at the Vatican where there was also anti-war sentiment. What follows is a description of how, through personal and professional tragedy, Mussolini comes to see his dance with Hitler was a master-slave relationship.
In the end, party girl Edda is heroic on behalf of her husband. She preserves his diaries. She fights for her children. She survives. Her father is found at a routine stop by partisans and the result is the humiliating end of the Duce and his last mistress (who tries to escape in a mink coat).
You almost cry (or maybe you do) understanding all that went on before. as Ciano faces death, Edda crawls into Switzerland and American tanks roll down the streets of Rome. Former rank and file fascist supporters celebrate … It is all here.
This is highly recommended not only for the clarification of the Italy at that time, but for the many parallels you can see in the situation of the world today.
May 13, 2023
I think this was the worst biography I have ever read. I am aware that I am being a bit unfair to the author, but there it is. Let me explain.
It is obvious from this book that Benito Mussolini had some sort of personality disorder. He was extremely grandiose and paranoid--- or as Hawkeye Pierce once said of the idiotic Frank Burns in MASH, he had "delusions of adequacy." Mussolini was a terrible father and husband and was congenitally unfaithful to his wife. But then, she was crazier than he was. Without being ordered to do so, she walked around Rome day after day, dressed as a poor person, spying on local people and sometimes reporting them to the fascist police. His daughter whose name escapes me never worked a day in her life though she socialized endlessly and hung around with the likes of Von Ribbentrop and Goebbels --and was married to another high-ranking fascist. Both wore fancy clothes and uniforms and cheated on each other all the time.
Italy itself was rife with corruption and there appeared to be no discipline in any of the armed forces or government departments. Mussolini began his empire building by attacking the Abyssinians, who had only spears for weapons. The whole country seemed to be not only in a state of total moral decay but to be a completely disorganized mess from the early 1920's when Il Duce took over, until 1944 when their allies the Germans had to fight their battles against the Allies for them.
The whole regime has an tragicomic air about it. Yes, Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany were probably far, far worse as far as atrocities and cruelty went, but at least they had a few brave warriors and some organization. These guys were utterly pathetic and totally uninteresting. The book is called "Mussolini's Daughter" yet we never really learn much about her, nor do we care. She is like a cipher in designer clothes, a D list actress surrounded by tasteless wealth. There is almost a Trumpian air to it all. Anyway, Il Duce's plan to Make Italy Great Again didn't as, we know, work out --thank goodness.
About the only thing the Italian fascists had going for them is that, unlike Hitler, they weren't really big on the persecution of Jews. They really had no interest in being anti-Semites. But that's about it. The story is told without a glimmer of light being shed on one sympathetic character. Maybe it's the unvarnished truth but it was all so mind-numbing, I couldn't tell.
Not for the faint of heart or for those looking for the goodness in humanity.
It is obvious from this book that Benito Mussolini had some sort of personality disorder. He was extremely grandiose and paranoid--- or as Hawkeye Pierce once said of the idiotic Frank Burns in MASH, he had "delusions of adequacy." Mussolini was a terrible father and husband and was congenitally unfaithful to his wife. But then, she was crazier than he was. Without being ordered to do so, she walked around Rome day after day, dressed as a poor person, spying on local people and sometimes reporting them to the fascist police. His daughter whose name escapes me never worked a day in her life though she socialized endlessly and hung around with the likes of Von Ribbentrop and Goebbels --and was married to another high-ranking fascist. Both wore fancy clothes and uniforms and cheated on each other all the time.
Italy itself was rife with corruption and there appeared to be no discipline in any of the armed forces or government departments. Mussolini began his empire building by attacking the Abyssinians, who had only spears for weapons. The whole country seemed to be not only in a state of total moral decay but to be a completely disorganized mess from the early 1920's when Il Duce took over, until 1944 when their allies the Germans had to fight their battles against the Allies for them.
The whole regime has an tragicomic air about it. Yes, Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany were probably far, far worse as far as atrocities and cruelty went, but at least they had a few brave warriors and some organization. These guys were utterly pathetic and totally uninteresting. The book is called "Mussolini's Daughter" yet we never really learn much about her, nor do we care. She is like a cipher in designer clothes, a D list actress surrounded by tasteless wealth. There is almost a Trumpian air to it all. Anyway, Il Duce's plan to Make Italy Great Again didn't as, we know, work out --thank goodness.
About the only thing the Italian fascists had going for them is that, unlike Hitler, they weren't really big on the persecution of Jews. They really had no interest in being anti-Semites. But that's about it. The story is told without a glimmer of light being shed on one sympathetic character. Maybe it's the unvarnished truth but it was all so mind-numbing, I couldn't tell.
Not for the faint of heart or for those looking for the goodness in humanity.
March 18, 2024
Not sure if it's because Edda Ciano (née Mussolini) didn't diarise much, or maybe because she didn't have much to say until she really came into her own in her early thirties, but the first two-thirds of this book is more about her father, Mussolini, or her husband, Galeazzo Ciano, and the rise of Fascism in Italy following the end of the First World War. As such, it makes for a handy guide to interwar Italian history and the psychology and personality of Mussolini. Based on the book, it seems incredible that Italy was dominated by such a collection of mediocre (and murderous) buffoons. But, then again, a number of forces conspired to catapult Mussolini and his entourage to power, and as long and the money and the graft were flowing, all the better for them. One clear insight from this book was the rather neglected and powerless status of women in Italian (and German) society in the lead-up to and during the war. The subtitle is "the most dangerous woman in Europe", but it seems pretty clear that while Edda Mussolini wielded considerable moral authority over her father -- urging him to ally with Nazi Germany -- she was excluded from the actual decision process. Still, while she doesn't exactly live happily ever after, soon after the war Edda Mussolini had regained her villa on Capri and was able to live comfortably on both the proceeds of her husband's memoirs, as well as a book written by her father shortly before he was justifiably executed by partisans. She came away from the war with no real insights, and experienced no real justice.
July 3, 2023
Before reading Mussolini's daughter I knew a little bit about Edda because I listened to Sisters in resistance. But, I did not know that much about her father.
I looked at one or two other reviews and they mentioned that the book talks a lot about Benito Mussolini and I agree with that. Maybe this book could be a Mussolini's biography instead of Edda's.
But, I did think that Mussolini's daughter was interesting to read. I learned that Mussolini was a writer before he became a dictator. I never thought he would have been a writer. I learned how he came because the leader of Italy, his wife, children, mistresses.
Two things that Surprised me was that I thought Italy's military was better than it actually was in world war II. And I also learned that Italy was no where near as antisemitic as Germany during world wart II.
My favorite part of the book was the afterword which talks about what happen to some of the people in the book later in their lives and when they died.
So I thought Mussolini's daughter was a nice biography to read I am just not sure it talked enough about Edda. But, I suppose Mussolini was a big influence on her life and Italy for 20 years so I suppose you have to know him to know her. I don't know.
So I suppose if I have one complaint about the book is that I wish it talked more about Edda instead of talking so much about Benito Mussolini.
I looked at one or two other reviews and they mentioned that the book talks a lot about Benito Mussolini and I agree with that. Maybe this book could be a Mussolini's biography instead of Edda's.
But, I did think that Mussolini's daughter was interesting to read. I learned that Mussolini was a writer before he became a dictator. I never thought he would have been a writer. I learned how he came because the leader of Italy, his wife, children, mistresses.
Two things that Surprised me was that I thought Italy's military was better than it actually was in world war II. And I also learned that Italy was no where near as antisemitic as Germany during world wart II.
My favorite part of the book was the afterword which talks about what happen to some of the people in the book later in their lives and when they died.
So I thought Mussolini's daughter was a nice biography to read I am just not sure it talked enough about Edda. But, I suppose Mussolini was a big influence on her life and Italy for 20 years so I suppose you have to know him to know her. I don't know.
So I suppose if I have one complaint about the book is that I wish it talked more about Edda instead of talking so much about Benito Mussolini.
May 4, 2023
The Villa Carpena is not the only place of pilgrimage for those interested in Mussolini and his family. In nearby Predappio, transformed from a poor, remote, agricultural hamlet into a thriving tourist centre, Mussolini and his family. In nearby Predappio, transformed from a poor, remote, agricultural hamlet into a thriving tourist centre, Mussolini's mother Rosa's schoolroom is also a museum, and visitors can inspect the dingy rooms of the Casa Natale in which the Duce was born. Nearby, in the cemetary of San Cassiano, is the family crypt. On 28 October every year Italians nostalgic for the Fascist past come here to remember and celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Fascism, before processing with flags and banners down Predappio's main street. The gift shop in the village, which sells many of the same things as the Villa Carpena, does good business; alongside the busts and the knives are copies of Mein Kampf and Nazi insignia. None of this is illegal in modern Italy, where these pilgrimage sites have come to be seen as an integral part of the country's cultural and political heritage. Many thousands of people make their way to Predappio every year, some from as far away as Japan and Australia, others brought by coach from all over Italy. This year, 2022, 28 October is the 100th anniversary of the March on Rome.
May 18, 2024
A riveting and fascinating biography of Benito Mussolini’s eldest daughter and favourite child, Edda.
The subtitle declares Edda to have been “The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe” and it’s worth pondering that for a moment. It’s a phrase that the author quotes from a newspaper, not her own opinion. Fascist ideology came with a conservative social mindset that wanted women to obey men, just as men should obey the state, and in the end everything and everyone served the Duce. As daughter of the dictator and wife of foreign minister Ciano, Edda was in the same position as the Roman ladies of old — she wielded influence, not power. Edda didn’t attempt to lead any political organisation. Caroline Moorehead describes how the dictator’s wife Rachele followed the lead of many second-tier fascists and ran her own network of spies and informers; not so Edda. There isn’t any suggestion that Edda set out to build a serious political network, or that she tried to read the official papers that her husband may or not have brought home. Edda did her best to safeguard Ciano’s professional diaries, and used them to secure her survival and make money, but Moorehead doesn’t mention Edda actually reading them, or what she thought of them. Edda was a social go-between, and when she travelled the distance between Hitler and Mussolini, she was important as such. But the evidence, to my mind, backs up her own claim that she was politically naive.
Her life played out as a tragedy in four acts.
First Act: A rather unhappy childhood in an at least initially poor family. Edda was the unwilling witness of the quarrels between her parents, as Benito Mussolini was a bad husband and father, serially adulterous and often absent, and the practically minded Rachele wasn’t inclined to back down. Moorehead’s sketch of the times gives more insight in the world of her parents, than that of the child, but this is inevitable.
Second Act: The zenith of Italian fascism, in which Benito covered the streets in monuments to and statues of himself, the new elites shamelessly enriched themselves through corruption, dissidents were thrown in jail, and the Duce decreed that there should be no mention in the press of his age and birthdays, outbreaks of disease, unhappiness, bad weather, or women in trousers. Edda accordingly lived a rich and privileged life, but Moorehead’s description doesn’t render it as a particularly happy life. As a husband, Galeazzo Ciano became a disappointment, and Edda would have divorced him if her father had not decided that adultery wasn’t grounds for divorce. (Of course he would have looked ridiculous if he had.) At least Ciano didn’t seem to mind Edda’s numerous affairs either, which suggests that he was less attached to double standards than most Italian men of his time. The son-in-law’s obsequiousness to the whims of the Duce annoyed his wife, who was far more independently minded. But she did play out her diplomatic role as she was sent out to improve relations with Berlin. The main story that is told in this book is one of decadence, nouveau riches mixing with impoverished aristocrats, heavy gambling, and malign gossip.
Third Act: Italy’s participation in WWII, which demonstrated the folly of spending all your money on marble and foreign adventures, instead of on building your (war) industry. Here Edda is presented as more naive than her husband, and a true believer in the victory of the Axis, while Ciano understood early on that this adventure was going to end very badly. In these chapters of the book, it must be said, it is clear that Moorehead is no military historian. The author adopts a dismissive attitude to the Italian war effort that has been corrected by the efforts of more recent historians who have documented that the Italians, though poorly equipped and badly led, often fought bravely and contributed more to the successes of the Axis than they usually get credit for. There are also some blunders in detail. But there is no denying that the writing was on the wall early on, and Edda seems to have respected the determination of Ciano to find a way out, which contributed to Mussolini’s fall in 1943. And which of course, eventually cost Ciano his life, as he was shot on 7 January 1944.
Fourth Act: Edda’s life on the run, initially as a rather unwelcome guest of the Swiss, but arguably continuing even after she was allowed to return to Italy, and soon enough allowed to freely choose her place of residence again. This is the part of her life in which Edda needed to fend for herself and her three children, as her husband was dead and her father soon would be. It’s true cloak-and-dagger stuff, full of narrow escapes and bizarre negotiations. Edda tried to use Ciano’s diaries as leverage, offering them in turn to the SS and the OSS. It is an enticing story but this account of so many illicit manoeuvres can be a bit confusing, and as a reader you have to wonder whether it is really all true, or some of it is part of the many myths and legends of the period. But Edda survived, if not without difficulty. She didn’t spend that much time in detention and much of it was fairly gentle: In hotels, in convents, in a luxury mental hospital, on an island. It was hardship for someone who had gotten accustomed to money and comfort, but a better life than many Italians had in a bombed-out, shot-up and impoverished country. And until her death in 1995, she lived out her life in peace.
“Illusion is perhaps the only reality in life,” Moorehead quotes a young Benito Mussolini at the end of the book. The years of fascism were years of mutual illusion, during which the people thought that they had a strong and wise leader, and the leader thought that he had obedient and martial people. In this biography, it is laid out in detail Edda’s relationships with the two most important men in her life were likewise founded on illusions. But somehow her bonds with her husband grew deeper and stronger in times of danger and hardship, while those with her father were shattered beyond repair. Nevertheless Edda never stopped believing in the myth of her father. Her personal tragedy didn’t mirror that of her nation, as she had a too strong personality for that, but Moorehead’s biography of Edda nevertheless reads like rich and illuminating account of the times.
The subtitle declares Edda to have been “The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe” and it’s worth pondering that for a moment. It’s a phrase that the author quotes from a newspaper, not her own opinion. Fascist ideology came with a conservative social mindset that wanted women to obey men, just as men should obey the state, and in the end everything and everyone served the Duce. As daughter of the dictator and wife of foreign minister Ciano, Edda was in the same position as the Roman ladies of old — she wielded influence, not power. Edda didn’t attempt to lead any political organisation. Caroline Moorehead describes how the dictator’s wife Rachele followed the lead of many second-tier fascists and ran her own network of spies and informers; not so Edda. There isn’t any suggestion that Edda set out to build a serious political network, or that she tried to read the official papers that her husband may or not have brought home. Edda did her best to safeguard Ciano’s professional diaries, and used them to secure her survival and make money, but Moorehead doesn’t mention Edda actually reading them, or what she thought of them. Edda was a social go-between, and when she travelled the distance between Hitler and Mussolini, she was important as such. But the evidence, to my mind, backs up her own claim that she was politically naive.
Her life played out as a tragedy in four acts.
First Act: A rather unhappy childhood in an at least initially poor family. Edda was the unwilling witness of the quarrels between her parents, as Benito Mussolini was a bad husband and father, serially adulterous and often absent, and the practically minded Rachele wasn’t inclined to back down. Moorehead’s sketch of the times gives more insight in the world of her parents, than that of the child, but this is inevitable.
Second Act: The zenith of Italian fascism, in which Benito covered the streets in monuments to and statues of himself, the new elites shamelessly enriched themselves through corruption, dissidents were thrown in jail, and the Duce decreed that there should be no mention in the press of his age and birthdays, outbreaks of disease, unhappiness, bad weather, or women in trousers. Edda accordingly lived a rich and privileged life, but Moorehead’s description doesn’t render it as a particularly happy life. As a husband, Galeazzo Ciano became a disappointment, and Edda would have divorced him if her father had not decided that adultery wasn’t grounds for divorce. (Of course he would have looked ridiculous if he had.) At least Ciano didn’t seem to mind Edda’s numerous affairs either, which suggests that he was less attached to double standards than most Italian men of his time. The son-in-law’s obsequiousness to the whims of the Duce annoyed his wife, who was far more independently minded. But she did play out her diplomatic role as she was sent out to improve relations with Berlin. The main story that is told in this book is one of decadence, nouveau riches mixing with impoverished aristocrats, heavy gambling, and malign gossip.
Third Act: Italy’s participation in WWII, which demonstrated the folly of spending all your money on marble and foreign adventures, instead of on building your (war) industry. Here Edda is presented as more naive than her husband, and a true believer in the victory of the Axis, while Ciano understood early on that this adventure was going to end very badly. In these chapters of the book, it must be said, it is clear that Moorehead is no military historian. The author adopts a dismissive attitude to the Italian war effort that has been corrected by the efforts of more recent historians who have documented that the Italians, though poorly equipped and badly led, often fought bravely and contributed more to the successes of the Axis than they usually get credit for. There are also some blunders in detail. But there is no denying that the writing was on the wall early on, and Edda seems to have respected the determination of Ciano to find a way out, which contributed to Mussolini’s fall in 1943. And which of course, eventually cost Ciano his life, as he was shot on 7 January 1944.
Fourth Act: Edda’s life on the run, initially as a rather unwelcome guest of the Swiss, but arguably continuing even after she was allowed to return to Italy, and soon enough allowed to freely choose her place of residence again. This is the part of her life in which Edda needed to fend for herself and her three children, as her husband was dead and her father soon would be. It’s true cloak-and-dagger stuff, full of narrow escapes and bizarre negotiations. Edda tried to use Ciano’s diaries as leverage, offering them in turn to the SS and the OSS. It is an enticing story but this account of so many illicit manoeuvres can be a bit confusing, and as a reader you have to wonder whether it is really all true, or some of it is part of the many myths and legends of the period. But Edda survived, if not without difficulty. She didn’t spend that much time in detention and much of it was fairly gentle: In hotels, in convents, in a luxury mental hospital, on an island. It was hardship for someone who had gotten accustomed to money and comfort, but a better life than many Italians had in a bombed-out, shot-up and impoverished country. And until her death in 1995, she lived out her life in peace.
“Illusion is perhaps the only reality in life,” Moorehead quotes a young Benito Mussolini at the end of the book. The years of fascism were years of mutual illusion, during which the people thought that they had a strong and wise leader, and the leader thought that he had obedient and martial people. In this biography, it is laid out in detail Edda’s relationships with the two most important men in her life were likewise founded on illusions. But somehow her bonds with her husband grew deeper and stronger in times of danger and hardship, while those with her father were shattered beyond repair. Nevertheless Edda never stopped believing in the myth of her father. Her personal tragedy didn’t mirror that of her nation, as she had a too strong personality for that, but Moorehead’s biography of Edda nevertheless reads like rich and illuminating account of the times.
February 18, 2023
Before reading this book, I really was not aware of Mussolini's family and how his oldest daughter, Edda, impacted some of his policies before and during WWII. After WWI, Italy was a very poor country, and was not a world player like France and England were at the time. People were dissatisfied with how things were, and Mussolini was eventually the one who stepped up and tried to turn things around. Edda, as his oldest daughter, was born illegitimate and in poverty, but as her father's power in Italy grew over the years, so did her own status, both in Italy and around the world. She was not a political animal by any means, but seemed to affect things in Italy and the Axis countries before and during WWII.
Her life was not an easy one, either as an impoverished child, a rebeliant teenager, or a married woman dissatisfied with her life. Her marriage was not one of true love till almost its very end; many of her family were executed by the end of the war; she was never a maternal woman despite having three children. She had so many opportunities to affect change in her country, and frittered so many of them away. In the end, she paid for her actions, as did so many others in her family.
Her life was not an easy one, either as an impoverished child, a rebeliant teenager, or a married woman dissatisfied with her life. Her marriage was not one of true love till almost its very end; many of her family were executed by the end of the war; she was never a maternal woman despite having three children. She had so many opportunities to affect change in her country, and frittered so many of them away. In the end, she paid for her actions, as did so many others in her family.
February 25, 2023
The subtitle calls Edda Mussolini "the most dangerous woman in Europe" during the Fascist period in Italy (1922-1943) in which her father, Benito Mussolini, reigned supreme. She was more a celebrity than a danger. Something akin to modern day celebrities who are famous for being famous but have little else to recommend themselves. She lived richly, dressed fashionably, threw and attended glamorous parties, hobnobbed with the powerful in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, including Hitler, and neglected her children. Her father was a dictator and her husband, Galeazzo Ciano, his foreign minister. During WWII, she spent time working as a nurse, but this appears to be the only work she ever did. Though nothing in the book marked her as a dangerous woman, her story is still interesting, but mostly due to who her father and husband were, and not in her own right. Except that her efforts to save her husband from a Fascist firing squad after Mussolini's fall from power, and her escape to Switzerland to avoid capture and perhaps execution from anti-Fascist partisans as the Allies finished off Italy, were intriguing in their own right.
April 9, 2023
How curious that the most emancipated woman of Europe in the 1930s should have been Edda Ciano Mussolini, Il Duce's daughter. Man-taker, gambler, and reported drug user, Edda liberated herself while helping her father enslave his own people. She also had the dubious distinction of being one of the few women in politics Hitler liked; the fuhrer always sent her flowers on her birthday. She could not stop him, however, from ordering her husband, Count Ciano, to be executed (although technically Benito gave the order, and Edda swore never to speak his name aloud again). Edda lived an amazing life, from once owning hundreds of apartments in Rome alone to being forced, after the war, into one crammed hole in the wall. Edda grew fonder of "Papa" as the years passed, and always addressed him as "Il Duce" on Italian television. She passed into Fascist paradiso in 1995, complete with Catholic mass and crowds chanting "Duce! Duce! Duce!" bearing her coffin. Her eldest son, Fabrizio, wrote a terrific memoir, WHEN GRANDPA HAD DADDY SHOT.
September 12, 2024
Edda Ciano, Countess of Cortellazzo and Buccari was born in 1910 to Benito and Rachele Mussolini. She was born out of wedlock, but her parents did marry when she was around five years old. She suffered extreme poverty, beatings, and neglectful behavior from her parents, especially when younger children (males) were born. She was extremely outspoken and opinionated, and enjoyed liaisons and gambling. She married Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari, who was a loyal Facist and supporter of her father. Eventually, he voted against her father, causing him to be executed for treason. Her support of the Nazis and her father drew much criticism, and still does. Once she was faced with the horrors of war, she did do quite a bit of humanitarian efforts. She also managed to save the wartime diaries of her executed husband, which have been a valuable historical source for this time period. I learned a great deal about this complicated woman and her abhorrent father from this book. I really enjoy this authors work, especially the impeccable research.
January 31, 2025
Let us be frank and earnest. Reading books that aren’t fiction takes me a long time to read. There are often words I don’t understand, and sometimes I find myself re-reading sentences, and my dictionary is close at hand. So, Dear Reader, you will forgive the length of time it has taken me to finish this biography.
About the Italian fascists from the 1920s to the 1940s, I had no knowledge or understanding. I knew Italy threw their destiny behind Hitler, to their ultimate peril. I confess I’d never heard of the favoured daughter of Il Duce, leader of the fascist dictatorship. In this biography of Edda Ciano (née Mussolini), The Reader is made aware, in no uncertain terms, that Mussolini’s first-born, a girl, is his favoured child; although a girl, she remains the child, later adult, that Mussolini comes to rely on, however as Edda matures, (and that is a moot point) she becomes a transforming woman. Much is made of Edda’s resemblance to Il Duce, not only in terms of physical appearance, but also in temperament. Many times the author reinforces the family is not for talking in private or public. But at the heart of this excellent biography is Edda; her personality, her loves and hates, the forbearance she allows her husband, Ciano, to have many mistresses and lovers, somewhat following the example of his father-in-law.
About the Italian fascists from the 1920s to the 1940s, I had no knowledge or understanding. I knew Italy threw their destiny behind Hitler, to their ultimate peril. I confess I’d never heard of the favoured daughter of Il Duce, leader of the fascist dictatorship. In this biography of Edda Ciano (née Mussolini), The Reader is made aware, in no uncertain terms, that Mussolini’s first-born, a girl, is his favoured child; although a girl, she remains the child, later adult, that Mussolini comes to rely on, however as Edda matures, (and that is a moot point) she becomes a transforming woman. Much is made of Edda’s resemblance to Il Duce, not only in terms of physical appearance, but also in temperament. Many times the author reinforces the family is not for talking in private or public. But at the heart of this excellent biography is Edda; her personality, her loves and hates, the forbearance she allows her husband, Ciano, to have many mistresses and lovers, somewhat following the example of his father-in-law.
February 5, 2023
Caroline Moorehead writes a challenging book about what happened in Europe just before the Second World War. The author takes you all the way to the end of WW2 in Europe.
The first half of the book shows what Hitler did in the 1930’s. We get a number of expiations of what he wanted to do and how he did it because of his skills as a speaker. The book does some of what explains important events that show how one group of people can do terrible things to other people. This part if a powerful few pages about how some churches followed Hitler.
It’s challenging to drive our brain through this book. Graduate students in a large of number of programs can probably get through the full book. It is a best read in a small group where there are different positions.
The first half of the book shows what Hitler did in the 1930’s. We get a number of expiations of what he wanted to do and how he did it because of his skills as a speaker. The book does some of what explains important events that show how one group of people can do terrible things to other people. This part if a powerful few pages about how some churches followed Hitler.
It’s challenging to drive our brain through this book. Graduate students in a large of number of programs can probably get through the full book. It is a best read in a small group where there are different positions.
May 28, 2023
Continuing my Italian thought leadership....billed as a biography of Edda, but in reality (like so many) this really was the story of the rise and fall of Mussolini. For me it was very helpful historical information about the Fascists leading to a much better understanding of Italy in the early 20th century. And yes, there was a bit of an emphasis on Edda, particularly after her father leaves power, but she certainly wasn't the whole scope of the book. This is good history, but not particularly narrative. I feel as though we learned all of the facts that the author compiled during her research - but without an overarching point of view. But, after Sisters in the Resistance, this was a much more comprehensive history of the times that I found very informative.
May 2, 2024
This book definitely got better as it went along, but the beginning was a hard read and I almost gave up on it. It feels like to me like the author forgot that not all readers are experts in Italian history. There were also many points where she would use Italian words or phrases without explaining what they mean. It felt like the author was stuck in her own head, started writing, and left all of the readers in the dust. Thus, this book is not easy to read. If she really felt that this story was important enough for others to know about, she should have done better with the writing. Still, I did learn a lot, even if the book was mostly about Mussolini and not Edda. I would be curious to try another one of her books, but I do not believe that this was her best work by any means.
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