Mussolini 'had 14 lovers at a time'

London, Nov 22 (ANI): Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator, had 14 lovers at the same time, the diaries of his long-term mistress reveal.

Claretta Petacci was the daughter of a Vatican doctor, who met Mussolini in 1932 when she was 20 and became his mistress four years later.

Her journal published last week describes the period from 1932 to 1938.

The Times quoted Mauro Suttora, who edited the diaries for his book Secret Mussolini, as saying: "The diaries are an intimate chronicle, minute by minute, of the daily life of the founder of fascism."

Petacci was sure that Mussolini, who was married and had five children, had numerous other affairs so she made him call her up nearly a dozen times in a day. In her diary she has written the times of the calls and their conversation.

Petacci has given detailed accounts of her rows with Mussolini over his philandering.

In April 1938, Petacci caught Mussolini having sex with his former girlfriend Alice De Fonseca Pallottelli.

The dictator confessed: "All right, I did it. I hadn't seen her since before Christmas. I felt like seeing her; I don't think I committed a crime. I spent 12 minutes with her."

Petacci cut him short and said: "Twenty-four!"

Mussolini replied: "All right, 24 then, so it was a quick thing. Who cares? she's past it. After 17 years there's no enthusiasm; it's like when I take my wife."

The fascist 29 years her senior told her that the concept of having intercourse with only one woman was "inconceivable" to him.

Mussolini explained: "There was a period in which I had 14 women, and I'd take three or four every evening, one after the other ... That gives you an idea of my sexuality."

Talking about a mistress, Cornelia Tanzi, he said she was "frigid, so cold it's incredible ... Imagine, she never felt anything, not even with me".

He also raved about Giulia Brambilla Carminati: "I met her in 1922 and then I didn't see her again for more than 10 years ... I never loved her; it was purely physical."

Mussolini swore on his five children that he never had any love for Romilda Ruspi: "It was a purely physical, sexual attraction ... Every so often, when I felt like it, I'd have her. I took other women in front of her."

However, he later admitted to have slept with Ruspi again: "My love, don't cry. I adore you. I'm bad - hit me, hurt me, punish me, but don't suffer. I love you. I think about you all day, even when I'm working."

He told Petacci: "Your flesh has got me - from now on I'm a slave to your flesh.

"I tremble in telling you, but I have a feverish desire for your delicious little body which I want to kiss all over. And you must adore my body, your giant."

In February 1938, he said to Petacci: "Be afraid of my love. It's like a cyclone. It's tremendous; it overwhelms everything. You must tremble."

He added that he would have liked to make love with her on horseback that day.

Petacci describes the way the two of them embraced. She wrote: "I can feel that all his nerves are taut and ready to spring.

"I hold him tightly. I kiss him and we make love with such fury that his screams seem like those of a wounded beast. Then, exhausted, he falls onto the bed."

Recalling another lovemaking session she said: "We made love with such force that he bit my shoulder so hard his teeth left a mark. He's mortified; he sits on the bed looking a bit pale and panting: 'My love, what have I done to you, look at that mark. One of these days I'll tear a shoulder off'."

He bragged about the "sexual education" he was giving her and also spoke about the advantages of orgasm: "Orgasm is good for you: it sharpens your thoughts, it widens your horizons, it helps your brain, makes it vivid and brilliant."

In March 1938, Mussolini told Petacci: "You know why I'm sorry to die? Because I'm sorry to leave you. But after at least two years you'll get another lover. You'll belong to another ... And I'll be dead. It's terrible. I won't survive you; I'll follow you. I was born for you; I will end with you."

Seven years later, when Mussolini's regime had ended, the couple were caught while attempting to flee Italy and were shot dead. (ANI)