Giuseppe Bottai
Illustration, not an archive object
Minister of Corporations (1929 to 1932), Governor of Rome (1935 to 1936), Minister of National Education (1936 to 1943) · Italy
On the regime page: Fascist Italy under Mussolini
2 quotes, oldest first. Filter with other speakers.
Content note: Insult to Mussolini and a reference to disease, quoted by Bottai from Balbo. The words are shown as they were said or written. Why
“My friendship for Balbo was always an argumentative friendship, since our ideas were frequently different. As time goes on I must confess that he was right. I remember that he called Mussolini ‘a product of syphilis,’ and that I used to object to his words. I wonder now if this judgment on Mussolini wasn’t correct, or at least very close to the truth. The Duce has decayed intellectually and physically. He doesn’t attract me any more.”
Original (Italian)
La mia amicizia con Balbo fu sempre un'amicizia polemica, perché le nostre idee erano spesso diverse. Più tempo passa e più devo accostarmi a lui. Ricordo che definiva Mussolini "il prodotto della sifilide' ed io reagivo a queste parole. Mi domando adesso se il giudizio non fosse esatto o per lo meno molto vicino alla verità. Il Duce è decaduto intellettualmente e fisicamente. Non ne subisco più alcun fascino.
English: Hugh Gibson (ed.), The Ciano Diaries 1939-1943 (Doubleday, 1946; Simon Publications reprint, 2001) (English text as printed in this edition)
Ciano records a conversation with Bottai, then Minister of National Education, about Mussolini, in the year after the death of Italo Balbo. Bottai quotes an earlier remark by Balbo.
Galeazzo Ciano, diary entry of 21 October 1941, recording the words of Giuseppe Bottai, in Hugh Gibson (ed.), The Ciano Diaries 1939-1943 (Doubleday, 1946; Simon Publications reprint, 2001); Italian original: Galeazzo Ciano, Diario 1937-1943 (Italian text; 2020 FS digital reprint) Source
““After all it is another goal that has been reached. In 1911 Mussolini uttered his ‘away from Libya.’ After thirty-two years he has kept his word.””
Original (Italian)
“In fondo è un'altra meta raggiunta: Mussolini nel 1911 pronunziò il 'Via dalla Libia'. Dopo trentadue anni lo ha mantenuto”.
English: Hugh Gibson (ed.), The Ciano Diaries 1939-1943 (Doubleday, 1946; Simon Publications reprint, 2001) (English text as printed in this edition)
Ciano lunched with Bottai and Roberto Farinacci after the loss of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica to the Allied advance, and quotes Bottai on Mussolini's 1911 opposition to the Italian conquest of Libya.
Galeazzo Ciano, diary entry of 8 January 1943, recording the words of Giuseppe Bottai, in Hugh Gibson (ed.), The Ciano Diaries 1939-1943 (Doubleday, 1946; Simon Publications reprint, 2001); Italian original: Galeazzo Ciano, Diario 1937-1943 (Italian text; 2020 FS digital reprint) Source