Villa Mussolini

History

The villa was built in 1892 for Marquise Eugenia Beccadelli, who divided her time between Florence and Bologna. Its architect was Ferdinando Mancini. The villa features on the 1895 map drawn for the state's first bathing resort concessions.

The two-storey villa originally had thirteen rooms, including a garage, greenhouse, and laundry room; it included a side-turret on its south side, which faced east towards the main entrance. The property was set in 1,397 square metres (15,040 sq ft) of land.

Beccadelli died in 1904, and the villa subsequently passed into the ownership of Giulio Monti of Ferrara, from which derived the name of Villa Monti. It was then sold to the family of Count Angeletti of Bologna, who sold it to Giulia Galli Bernabei, its last owner before the Mussolinis.

For some years before their purchase of the villa, the family of Benito Mussolini, Italy's fascist dictator, had spent their summer holidays on the riviera romagnola; Mussolini and his second wife, Rachele Guidi, were themselves from Romagna's countryside. In 1924 and 1925, the family stayed in Cattolica. In 1926, they stayed in the villa of Count Terzi in Riccione, opposite the Grand Hotel Des Bains and near the Mater Admirabilis church. Between 1927 and 1932, they stayed at Domenico Galavotti's Hotel Al Lido on Piazzale Roma. In 1933, the family moved to Pietro Tontini's Hotel Milano Helvetia; Tontini and Mussolini were comrades in the First World War.

Guidi was keen to purchase a property in Riccione for their next summer stay. She paid 170,000 lire for Galli Bernabei's villa; the purchase deed was signed on 2 July 1934, and registered in Forlì on 21 July 1940. Galli Bernabei did not want to sell the villa, and was persuaded only after the intervention of Frangiotto Pullè, Riccione's mayor. According to one account, Guidi purchased the villa using money intended as a donation to the Opera Nazionale Balilla, leaving her husband under the impression that the villa was a gift from the people of Riccione. Other versions say that Guidi used money from local party subscriptions, or royalties from Mussolini's articles in Fortune. …

Current use

Since its 2004 reopening, Villa Mussolini has been used for cultural events and exhibitions, as well as civil wedding ceremonies. Villa Mussolini also hosts the annual DIG Award, a prize for documentary film investigative journalism that was dedicated to Ilaria Alpi until 2014.

Name controversy

Following the 2005 renovation, the centre-left municipal administration officially restored the 'Villa Mussolini' name, to local controversy. As a result of the villa's name, some entertainers have refused to perform at the venue.

In August 2020, Lodovico Zanetti, the president of Forlì's ANPI chapter, suggested that the villa be renamed after the Matatia family, three Jewish brothers from Corfu who settled in Riccione in the 1920s. The eldest brother, Nissim, bought a villa within eyesight of Villa Mussolini; his family was deported and killed in Auschwitz. Roberto Matatia, Nissim's nephew, published a book in January 2014 recounting the family's history in proximity to Villa Mussolini, entitled The Inconvenient Neighbours.

In April 2021, the municipality freely loaned the villa to an agency promoting Riccione's candidacy for UNESCO heritage. The loan was criticised for attaching Mussolini's name to the candidacy.

Villino Pater "Cacetta"

The villa's complex included a cottage, known as Villino Pater or "Cacetta", which is still extant on Via Latini. The villa was owned by the engineer Dario Pater. It was twinned with another villa and connected by a portico; its twin, which no longer exists, belonged to Mussolini's nephew. Like the 1940 additions to Villa Mussolini, the villa was constructed using populit.

In October 2019, the municipal government sold the villa to a Milanese real estate company for €600,000. It was advertised for sale again in February 2020, for €980,000. A section of the wall collapsed in August 2020, bringing down also part of the attic and the floor of the first floor.