Eighty-two years after awarding Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini honourary citizenship, a tiny village in northern Italy has decided to take it away again.
Councillors in Montagna, in the largely German-speaking province of Bolzano, voted unanimously to withdraw the civic honour conferred on Mussolini two years after he became prime minister.
"People in this area suffered a great deal under Fascism and so it is unacceptable that Il Duce's citizenship should remain in force," said the motion. The initiative was the work of the Union fuer Suedtirol, a party which campaigns for the rights of the German-speaking people of the Alto Adige and would like the region to be fully autonomous.
The Alto Adige, 'Sued Tirol' in German, was once part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. It was incorporated into Italy after World War I and subjected to a fierce programme of 'Italian-isation' under Fascism.
Part of the programme involved replacing the German names of towns and cities with Italian ones.
The Fascist official who translated about 8,000 place names, Ettore Tolomei, was buried in Montagna. The village, whose economy is based on wine, has about 1,500 inhabitants and has a tradition as place in which to recover from illness in clean mountain air.
