Mussolini: A Study in Power
Ivone KirkpatrickEARLY 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.”