The Pittsburgh Press (May 3, 1945)
Duce’s widow in U.S. custody
Caught while trying to flee Italy – 2 children also taken by partisans
By Aldo Forte, United Press staff writer
COMO, Italy – Rachele Mussolini, widow of the executed dictator, and two of her children were under protective custody of American authorities today after their arrest by Italian Partisans as they attempted to flee to Switzerland.
The Partisans turned her over to officers of the U.S. 1st Armored Division, saying she always had led a family life and they did not consider her a Fascist criminal.
She was placed in her sumptuous villa, Crespi, overlooking Lake Como and the Swiss Alps.
Officers told me she was arrested Sunday night with her 18-year-old son, Romano, and her daughter, Anna Maria, 16, youngest of the Mussolinis’ five children.
The three originally were placed in the Como jail, where she first learned of her husband’s execution.
Officers said that in the car in which she was trying to escape they found 12 million lire ($120,000), 1,600 grams of gold and numerous jewels.
I saw her and the children leave the villa in American custody this afternoon for an undisclosed destination.
First three zippered pigskin bags, were carried to a German-camouflaged car waiting in the villa gardens.
Then Rachele descended. She was dressed in a simple black coat, black dress and black turban and, despite the cold sunless day, was stockingless. She looked pale and depressed.
She looked much older than when I saw her in 1940 at the funeral of her son, Bruno, killed in an air crash. Her hair was completely white, she had lost weight and her face was wrinkled.