ITALY: ROME: FUNERAL OF EDDA CIANO, DAUGHTER OF BENITO MUSSOLINI

(11 Apr 1995) Natural Sound

Crowds of people turned out in Rome today for the funeral of Edda Ciano, the first and favourite daughter of Italy's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

Ciano died on Saturday, aged 84, following an operation to remove a kidney abscess.

Today's (Tuesday's) funeral was attended by Mussolini's relatives and by a crowd of fascist supporters who saluted the coffin the old Roman - fascist way.

The church was packed today (Tuesday) as some of Italy's most prominent figures remembered Edda Ciano - the daughter of Benito Mussolini.

Generations of the Ciano and Mussolini clans attended including Alessandra Mussolini, parliamentary deputy for Italy's right-wing National Alliance party.

She is the daughter of one of Benito Mussolini's sons.

Many of Edda Ciano's relatives wept as they looked upon her coffin - remembering a woman well-known for her strength of conviction.

She was born Sept. 1, 1910 and in 1944 renounced the name 'Mussolini' after her father ordered her husband's execution.

On April 23, 1930, she married Count Galeazzo Ciano, future foreign minister who, in 1943 voted as part of the Fascist Grand Council against the dictator when the war was going badly.

The council vote led to the arrest order for the dictator and the eventual fall of his regime.

But after Mussolini was freed by Italy's German occupiers the dictator ordered his son-in -law's execution despite the pleadings of Edda.

A firing squad killed Ciano in 1944 and the young widow decided to renounce her last name.

Some also say Edda Ciano was the first Italian woman to publicly drive a car and to wear trousers.

As the crowds poured out onto the streets - many gave the coffin a fascist salute in memory of times gone by.

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