19 Facts About Galeazzo Ciano

Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari was an Italian diplomat and politician who served as Foreign Minister in the government of his father-in-law, Benito Mussolini, from 1936 until 1943.

Galeazzo Ciano was the son of Admiral Costanzo Ciano, a founding member of the National Fascist Party; father and son both took part in Mussolini's March on Rome in 1922.

In July 1943, Galeazzo Ciano was among the members of the Grand Council of Fascism that forced Mussolini's ousting and subsequent arrest.

Galeazzo Ciano proceeded to flee to Germany but was arrested and handed over to Mussolini's new regime based in Salo, the Italian Social Republic.

Gian Galeazzo Ciano was born in Livorno, Italy, in 1903.

Galeazzo Ciano was the son of Costanzo Ciano and his wife Carolina Pini; his father was an Admiral and World War I hero in the Royal Italian Navy.

The elder Galeazzo Ciano, nicknamed Ganascia, was a founding member of the National Fascist Party and re-organizer of the Italian merchant navy in the 1920s.

Costanzo Galeazzo Ciano was not above extracting private profit from his public office.

Galeazzo Ciano volunteered for action in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia as a bomber squadron commander.

Galeazzo Ciano received two silver medals of valor and reached the rank of captain.

Galeazzo Ciano began to keep a diary a short time after his appointment and kept it active up to his 1943 dismissal as foreign minister.

Also in 1937, prior to the Italian annexation in 1939, Gian Galeazzo Ciano was named an Honorary Citizen of Tirana, Albania.

At the start of the war in 1939, Galeazzo Ciano did not agree with Mussolini's plans and knew that Italy's armed forces were ill-prepared for a major war.

In late 1942 and early 1943, following the Axis defeat in North Africa, other major setbacks on the Eastern Front, and with an Anglo-American assault on Sicily looming, Galeazzo Ciano turned against the doomed war and actively pushed for Italy's exit from the conflict.

Galeazzo Ciano was silenced by being removed from his post as foreign minister.

Galeazzo Ciano was kept in complete isolation in a hotel in Campo Imperatore until rescued by German paratroopers on 12 September 1943.

Galeazzo Ciano was dismissed from his post by the new government of Italy put in place after his father-in-law was overthrown.

Galeazzo Ciano was then formally arrested on charges of treason.

Under German and Fascist pressure, Mussolini had Galeazzo Ciano imprisoned before he was tried and found guilty.