MSI: The Flame of the Defeated

The Italian Social Movement (Movimento sociale italiano—MSI) emerged in the immediate post-war period as a “community of veterans” with the aim of fostering bonds of solidarity among those who were on the losing side in World War II (Parlato, 2006, 2021). To provide some context, one of the central figures in this early movement, the so-called Senate, was Pino Romualdi. Born in Predappio, he was rumoured to be the natural son of Benito Mussolini, as his father was a close friend of Mussolini and a Mazzinian and socialist. In his early twenties, Romualdi had volunteered for military service in the Ethiopian and Somali campaigns, later becoming a leader of the Fascist University Group (Guf) in Forlì.