Diaries belonging to Benito Mussolini 'hidden near Swiss border'

London, June 19 (ANI): Claims have surfaced that diaries and documents that had belonged to late Italian politician Benito Mussolini are hidden in a secret location near the Swiss border.

The son of Guglielmo Della Morte, who had been Mussolini's consul-general to Germany during the war, made the claim.

Rocco Della Morte claims that Il Duce gave his father the padlocked, damp-proof zinc suitcase, which bore the initials B.M. and contained diaries, documents and letters, in April 1945, just a few days before he was captured and executed by partisans.

Mussolini had been trying to flee to Switzerland after the war, and the papers were reportedly buried in the Spluga Valley, north of Lake Como, near where the dictator and his lover were caught and killed.

Rocco believes the case may also contain important state papers, which Mussolini had hoped to use in negotiating his surrender with the British and Americans.

"It's perfectly feasible that Mussolini bundled up important papers and consigned them to a secure location," the Telegraph quoted Christopher Duggan, an authority on Mussolini from Reading University, as saying.

"All the leading fascists were in a panic and desperate to make arrangements with the Allies.

"They were thinking about what documents might help them when they faced war crimes trials," he stated.

Rocco claims his father told him about the location of the diaries in 1954, when he turned 18, and swore him to secrecy, ordering that the location not be revealed until 2025.

He said he decided to reveal the story now because he is 74 and the information would otherwise die with him.

"I have checked up on the suitcase and I've verified that it is still there," he said.

He said he had made arrangements for the suitcase to be recovered and opened, and for its contents to be published. (ANI)