PRIVATE LIFE OF SIGNOR MUSSOLINI

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 94, 14 January 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

PRIVATE LIFE OF SIGNOR MUSSOLINI

Then All Is Peace And Quiet

While so much is written about Sig nor Mussolini in his public capacity, it is surprising to find how little really is known of his home life and the domestic side of his character, says one who spent a weekend with him. There is probably no living person who keeps his public activities so far apart from his private affairs as does 11 Duce —yet it may be said at once that, he is a model husband, and a most devoted father.

His wife ami their younger children pass but comparatively little of their time with him in Rome, and are but rarely seen at the huge Palazzo di Venezia, where he maintains his headquarters. They live for almost the whole of the year at their villa nr Astia. about twelve miles from the capital, and here Mussolini visits them almost daily. Upon occasions a sudden lit of impatience will seize him; then he will push all work aside and. mounting the motor-cycle which is always standing ready, set off to Astia at a feverish pace, there passing a few hours with his family.

During these visits lie is often to be seen riding round the neighbourhood with one of his children on the pillion behind him

His villa is quite unpretentious, both as regards its external appearance and its interior furnishing. It is equipped plainly, almost to the point of austerity, ami there is certainly little to be seen inside it to denote that it is the home of the one who today holds the destiny of Italy in his hands. Mussolini has never forgotten his village birth ami upbringing. Pomp and obstentalion. so far as his private life is concerned, are things he abhors. The traditional thrift of the Italian is strongly ingrained within him. amt this tic carries into his home, as. indeed, lie does into the simplest matters of everyday life. Thus, when he has finished with a page of notes he has written, lie carefully draws his pencil through them so that the other side of the paper may serve him on another occasion.

In his devotion to Hie simple life Mussolini is fully supported by his wife, to whom the excitement of the social round is highly distasteful. Therefore, it Is rarely that Signora. Mussolini is seen at any entertainment in Rome which she can possibly escape. Their children are receiving and have received, precisely the same education as Hm| given to any other Italian child of the middle classes, and such pleasures and indulgences as are granted to them are of the simplest and most Inexpensive style. They lead (he life of their schoolfellows or oilier companions.

I laving reg.-i rd to I lie number of important visitors 11 I >m-e lias entertained at Ills homo from time to ime, tils children have remained quite unspoilt, and. when they were younger, it was very rarely indeed that they were allowed

to come under the notice of his visitors. Their father was always a firm believer in Hie old doctrine that the proper place for children was in the nursery, and that they should be “seen and not heard.”

It is when seated with him in his cosy sitting-room that one realizes what manner of man it is that has impressed liis personality so indelibly upon Italy. He speaks slowly and hesitatingly at first, till he becomes really interested In his subject. Then he is all lire mid animation, and his words pour forth in a seemingly unceasing torrent.

Should the individual whom lie ,is addressing have only an imperfect knowledge of Italian. Mussolini will at once change into German. French or English, all of which languages he speaks fluently. Nor does he ever seem at a loss for his facts; Indeed, more often than not. he will quote chapter and verse as he goes along. His memory rnusf be encyclopaedic, while his range of subjects is extraordinarily wide.

As he runs on, his mental alertness communicates itself ‘o his whole body, and he will move restlessly in his favourite large chair and toy with a pencil. a paper-knife, or anything that he happens to find close to bis hand. Frequently in the course of conversation Mussolini will relapse into silence, and on these occasions lie conveys an impression of loneliness Hint amounts to positive isolation.

His eyes, as In; sits quietly in repose, are those of the dreamer, the idealist, but once his interest is aroused he reveals himself as the man of action, swift, resolute, and often ruthless in his decisions

it may be said of him that in conversation lie never uses superlatives. His ' talk is easy and flowing, and if he I waxes eloquent til all. it is the eloquence of simplicity. Even during the most casual conversation there is an air of sincerity in all his words. His views, one feels, may be utterly wrong, but one is forced to confess that they are very sincerely held, and the the result of very long and careful consideration. i The Isolation which 11 Due, observes | when immersed in his work is carried I very largely into his private life. Personal friends who can claim any . measure of-real intimacy witli him may I bi> sttid Io be non-existent. His life is ; his work - , and his work is his life. ' Italy absorbs Hie whole of Ills time and his energies. Mussolini is by no means as devoid of humour ns many people imagine. At times some little quip will cause him to drop into a subdued laugh, while upon oi-eiisions he ciin li''e off n delightful - epigram Taken all round. .Mussolini, when met in bls home, is very far removed indeed from the Mussolini of the otlice and the rostrum.