User:The tooth/Clara

Clara Petacci (Claretta Petacci) (February 28, 1912 – April 28, 1945) was a young Roman girl from an upper-class family who became Benito Mussolini's mistress. She was twenty-nine years his junior.

Background
Clara was born to a well-off family, her father Francesco being a senior Vatican physician. She was knowledgable about classical music and poetry. She is also said to have been a supporter of Mussolini since she first came to

Relationship with Mussolini
She met Mussolini on April 24, 1932 when

Death
During Mussolini's capture by partisans in April 1945 it is said that Petacci was offered the opportunity to escape, but she firmly refused and instead tried to protect Mussolini with her body. The Duce was then shot immediately after her. On the following day, April 29, 1945, at the Piazzale Loreto in Milan, Mussolini and Petacci's bodies, along with four others, were hanged upside down at an Esso gas station and photographed as a crowd vented their rage upon them.

Petacci is apparently respectfully considered in Italy; without reference to politics, but only as a woman in love who did not abandon him in times of trouble.