Aldo Vidussoni (21 January 1914, in Fogliano Redipuglia, in Gorizia – 30 November 1982, in

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

) was an Italian

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

politician. After law studies at the University of Trieste, Vidussoni joined the Partito Nazionale Fascista (PNF) in May 1936. He was a volunteer soldier in the

Second Italo-Abyssinian War The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression which was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is often referred to simply as the Itali ...

, and then on

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

's side in the Spanish Civil War; he lost an eye and an arm on the

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

front, and was awarded a gold medal for valor in combat. Aldo Vidussoni's reputation made him an asset with the

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

régime, and he became an important figure in the hierarchy of the Fascist university corporations - the Gruppi universitari fascisti (GUF). First a secretary of the GUF for the

Province of Trieste The Province of Trieste ( it, Provincia di Trieste, sl, Tržaška pokrajina; fur, provinzia di Triest) was a Provinces of Italy, province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Trieste. It had an are ...

(in 1938), he was (1940–1941) inspector for the GUF in Enna, and, in November–December 1941, national secretary of the GUF.

Fascist Party leadership

On 26 December 1941, while still quite young, Vidussoni was appointed national secretary of the PNF, replacing Adelchi Serena by order of Mussolini. His scant political experience and the constant criticism of other leaders had made him ill-suited for the task: despite his initial appeal as a decorated soldier, he soon became widely regarded as ineffective, even "ridiculous". According to the diaries of the Foreign Minister and son-in-law of Mussolini, Count Galeazzo Ciano, Vidussoni came to see him on 5 January 1942 with 'savage plans for the Slovenes. He wants to kill them all. I take the liberty of observing there are a million of them. "That does not matter", he answers firmly; "we must imitate the Askari and exterminate them!" I hope he will calm down'.''The Ciano Diaries 1939–1943: The Complete, Unabridged Diaries of Count Galeazzo Ciano, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1936–1943'' (2000) Vidussoni was abruptly replaced by the ruthless ''squadrista''

Carlo Scorza Carlo Scorza (15 June 1897 – 23 December 1988) was a prominent member of the National Fascist Party of Italy during World War II. He built his reputation in the Italian Fascist paramilitary group known as the Blackshirts, and later rose to the ...

in early 1943. After the pro-

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

coup d'état inside the Grand Council of Fascism in late July 1943 and the armistice signed by the Pietro Badoglio government in Cassibile, Vidussoni chose to side with the Nazi-backed

Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...

(established and led by Mussolini in the north). He became a leading member of the refounded PNF, the ''Partito Fascista Repubblicano'' ( Republican Fascist Party). After World War II, Aldo Vidussoni lived in Verona and then Cagliari. He worked in insurance.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vidussoni, Aldo 20th-century Italian lawyers 1914 births 1982 deaths People from Fogliano Redipuglia Italian amputees Italian people of the Spanish Civil War People of the Italian Social Republic Lawyers with disabilities