Mussolini: A Study in Power

EARLY in  1930  I was  informed  that  I  was  to  be  appointed  Head of the Chancery at the embassy in Rome.  I had never been in  Italy before. I arrived in Rome for the first time on a glorious April morn­ing, and, as I left the station, I saw the fountains in the Piazza dell’ Esedra  sparkling  in  the  sunshine.  From  that  moment  I  became  a captive of Rome. It is the only foreign city to which I return with a feeling  of  breathless  joy.

During  my  term  of  service  I  met  Mussolini  from  time  to  time, but  I was, of course,  too junior  to  have  official  dealings  with  him. Moreover, until 1932, Grandi was in charge of the Ministry of For­eign  Affairs,  and  my  role  was  to  keep  in  touch  with  him  through his exceedingly competent chef de cabinet, Pellegrino Ghigi, a man whom  Grandi  subsequently  described  to  me  as  being  “as  close  to me  as  a brother.”