18 Facts About Roberto Farinacci

Roberto Farinacci subsequently established himself as the Ras of the Fascists in Cremona, publishing the newspaper Cremona Nuova and organizing Blackshirts combat squads in 1919.

The Cremona squads were amongst the most brutal in Italy and Roberto Farinacci effectively used them to terrorize the population into submission to Fascist rule.

Quickly rising as one of the most powerful members of the National Fascist Party, gathering around him a large number of supporters, Roberto Farinacci came to represent the most radical syndicalist faction of the party, one that thought Mussolini to be a too liberal leader.

Nevertheless, Roberto Farinacci's career continued to rise and played a considerable role in establishing Fascist dominance over Italy during and after the 1922 March on Rome.

In 1925, Roberto Farinacci became the second most powerful man in the country when Mussolini appointed him secretary of the party.

Roberto Farinacci was used by Mussolini to centralize the party and then to purge it of thousands of its radical members.

Roberto Farinacci disappeared from the limelight, practicing law for much of the late 1920s and early 1930s.

In 1935, Roberto Farinacci fought in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War as a member of the Voluntary Militia for National Security, the new official name of the Blackshirts, eventually attaining the rank of lieutenant general.

Roberto Farinacci lost his right hand fishing with a hand grenade near Dessie, an incident for which Ettore Muti ironically nicknamed him "Martin pescatore".

In 1937, Roberto Farinacci participated in the Spanish Civil War and in 1938 became a governmental minister and enforced the antisemitic racial segregation measures declared by Mussolini.

When World War II began, Roberto Farinacci sided with Nazi Germany.

Roberto Farinacci frequently communicated with the Nazis and became one of Mussolini's advisors on Italy's dealings with Germany.

In 1941, Roberto Farinacci became Inspector of the Militia in Italian-occupied Albania.

In July 1943, Roberto Farinacci took part in the Grand Council of Fascism meeting which led to Mussolini's downfall.

Roberto Farinacci funded the journal Crociata Italica, the main organ of a small group of clerical fascist priests led by Don Tullio Calcagno.

The uninjured Roberto Farinacci was captured along with twelve suitcases, filled with money and jewels; he was brought to the town hall of Vimercate and tried by a partisan court.

Roberto Farinacci demanded to be brought to Cremona, claiming that "there they will tell you that I did good and that I must be released", and contesting all accusations against him; there was some indecision about the sentence, as the representatives of the Christian Democracy and of the Italian Liberal Party wanted to hand him over to the Allies, whereas those of the Italian Communist Party and of the Italian Socialist Party wanted to execute him.

Together with Giovanni Preziosi, Roberto Farinacci was one of the most prominent Fascist voices of racial antisemitism during the Mussolini regime.