Benito Mussolini Fencing with Swords, Rome, 23 November 1936

In all likelihood, the photograph captures a jocular, exhibition duel, attended by a great many spectators, journalists and even cameras. But Mussolini really was a duellist: at least five of his duels are known, beginning in 1915. It is generally held, however, that he ceased to take part in genuine duels, illegal of course, after 1922.

Though there is a report of a duel involving Mussolini in 1928. From the Italian press it is known that in
1921 Benito Mussolini seriously wounded Francisco Ciccotti, at that time the editor of a newspaper in Rome, in a duel with swords. The contest lasted an hour and a quarter and ended with Cicotti unable to continue the fight because of the wounds he had received.

As the column cited makes clear, during Mussolini's duel with Count Calvi, one of the finest swordsmen of the Italian army, when the danger to Mussolini's life was considerable, he wore a coat of mail under his waistcoat, which he had not taken off since the first attempt on his life.

When Count Calvi managed to land a thrust on Mussolini's left breast, his sword broke in two, leaving only the hilt in his hand. It was clear what had happened. The Count hurled the broken half of his weapon in Mussolini's face, exclaiming with contempt: “Coward!”

Mussolini received a light wound to the throat and chin and was sent off for treatment. The Italian press was forbidden to publish any reports of this duel.

Count Calvi, a scion of an ancient Italian house, was one of the best horsemen in the world, a winner of prestigious prizes and an instructor at the famous Italian riding school of Tor di Quinto. When in 1923 he married the beautiful Princess Yolanda, the late Queen Milena, widow of King Nicholas of Montenegro, sent her a message: “You might have been a queen, but you preferred a marriage of love.”