Romano Mussolini - jazz musician and painter

Dictator’s son forged successful career in music

At his peak, Romano Mussolini played around the
world alongside some of jazz's greatest icons

Romano Mussolini, the youngest son of Benito Mussolini, who grew up to enjoy success as a jazz musician and a painter, was born on this day in 1927 at the family home in Carpena, a hamlet outside Forlì in the Emilia-Romagna region.

Although he began his career with the anonymity of an assumed name, in time he became a central figure in Italy's post-war contemporary jazz scene under his true identity.

His peak achievement came in 1963, when his band, the Romano Mussolini All Stars, recorded the album Jazz allo Studio 7, winning the prestigious Italian Critics Award, raising his profile enough to play on tour alongside such jazz icons as Chet Baker, Duke Ellington, and Dizzy Gillespie.

Yet despite his musical fame, Romano considered painting to be his true creative passion and his expressive, figurative style achieved national and international recognition. 

Villa Carpena, the Mussolini family home and today open to the public as a museum, was a beautiful, Liberty-style country house in a pleasant rural setting. Between there and his father’s official residence in Rome, the neoclassical mansion, Villa Torlonia, Romano’s early years were somewhat idyllic. 

He studied music as a child, playing classical pieces on the piano and accompanying his father, who played the violin.  He first encountered jazz listening to records belonging to his older brother, Vittorio.  Largely self-taught as a musician, he began experimenting with playing jazz on the piano in around 1943. He also played accordion and alto saxophone.

Italy’s defeat in World War Two changed everything, of course. Having failed to escape to Switzerland, who rejected an application by his mother, Rachele, for asylum, Romano, his mother and sister, Anna-Maria, hid in a  house near Como, where he learned that his father, who had made a separate escape attempt in the company of his mistress Clara Petacci, had been executed by partisans.

Themselves captured by partisans, they were handed over to the British, who moved them to an internment camp near Terni in Umbria. From there they were transferred to Ischia, the island off the coast near Naples, where they remained in state-imposed exile until the Italian government announced an amnesty in 1947.

Romano Mussolini as a young child, pictured with
his father on a beach holiday at Riccione

Thanks to the family whom he lived with on Ischia, Romano had been able to keep up his piano playing and painting. After the amnesty, he stayed on the island, where he met Ugo Calise, a guitarist and composer, who invited him to play accordion in his group.

In the early 1950s, he returned to the mainland, moving into an apartment on the northern outskirts of Rome. He began to play jazz piano professionally, under the name of Romano Full or Raymond Full.

By 1955, after forming a partnership with a trumpeter, Nunzio Rotondo, he performed for the first time under his real name.

He modelled himself on his idol, the Canadian pianist Oscar Peterson, and his popularity grew, reaching a high point in 1963 when he was becoming a regular at the Santa Tecla club in Milan, which was something of a temple of jazz in the city.

His trio, the Romano Mussolini All Stars, recorded an album, Jazz allo Studio 7 - named after a famous Milan recording studio - that won that year's Italian critics award.  The award opened numerous doors, including regular invitations to tour abroad.

The irony is that, had his father’s regime survived, Romano would have probably had to choose a different career. Jazz, with its roots in black culture, was severely restricted by the Fascist government.  

Romano Mussolini explored various ways to earn extra money to support his music career, some more successful than others. He attempted to launch himself as a film producer but achieved poor results, making more from writing soundtracks for films. One of his more profitable ventures was a chicken and pig farm he acquired in Romagna.

Mussolini (left) pictured on an album sleeve with
singer Lilian Terry and trumpeter Nunzio Rotondo

In 1962, he married Maria Scicolone, the younger sister of actress Sophia Loren. They had two daughters, Alessandra and Elisabetta.  Alessandra went on to lead a small political party on the Italian far-right and was often described as a neofascist. Romano Mussolini composed the party's official anthem.

As he became older, Romano devoted himself more and more to painting. His subjects ranged from landscapes to still life, abstract dreams, beautiful women, clowns, gypsy scenes and the carnivals of Venice. His style has been described as Post-War Italian Figurative Expressionism.

Although there are none on display in the famous galleries, many of his paintings survive in collections around the world, occasionally changing hands at auction.

His musical career continued, including an appearance at the Lake Maggiore Jazz Festival in 2002, although his later years were most notable for writing a book of memoirs under the title, Il Duce, mio padre. 

In the book, Romano condemned his father’s part in the deportation to Nazi death camps of some 7,000 Italian Jews, yet his appraisal of the dictator’s political career was largely sympathetic. 

He died in Rome from heart problems in February, 2006 and was buried in the family crypt in the cemetery of San Cassiano in Predappio, the town south of Forlì where both his parents were born.

The Villa Carpena, where Romano Mussolini
grew up, is now open to the public

Travel tip:

The Villa Carpena museum, located about 10km (6 miles) southeast of  Forlì, is the historic former country residence of Benito Mussolini and his family. Known officially as the Casa dei ricordi di Mussolini (The House of Memories of Mussolini), the estate was the family home from 1924 onwards. His widow, Rachele, lived there long after his death. It eventually became neglected but in 2001 was bought by an Italian businessman  from the Mussolini estate and painstakingly restored, before being opened to the public as the first private museum dedicated to the dictator's personal life. Visitors today can explore the largely unchanged rooms, which are filled with original family belongings, furniture, and private photographs. Key highlights include Mussolini’s study, his uniform, personal letters, and the cradle of his children. The surrounding grounds feature a large garden, a vineyard, and the remains of a defensive bunker built during World War II. 

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The Maronti Beach in Ischia is one of the many
beautiful beaches for which Ischia is noted

Travel tip:

Ischia is a beautiful volcanic island notable for its many beautiful beaches located in the Tyrrhenian Sea at the northern tip of the Gulf of Naples. It has an area of some 47 square  kilometres, rising to a height of 789 m (2,589 ft) at the peak of Monte Epomeo. The vineyards surrounding Monte Epomeo produce excellent wine that is served in the island’s restaurants. The hot mineral springs on the island have been used since Roman times as a cure for ailments and are still recommended for people suffering from rheumatism and arthritis today. An entire circuit of the island’s 34km (21 miles) of coastline on one of the local buses will take about two and a half hours. Ischia is also the name of the island’s main town, the other municipalities being Barano d'Ischia, Casamicciola Terme, Forio, Lacco Ameno and Serrara Fontana. Notable sights include the Aragonese Castle (Castello Aragonese), which was built on a rock near the island in 474 BC, by Hiero I of Syracuse. Nowadays, it is connected to the town of Ischia by a stone causeway.  The island, which has a population of around 62,000, is accessible by hydrofoil and car ferries from Naples and Sorrento. Typical journey times are 50-60 minutes by hydrofoil from either starting point, with the ferry from Naples taking about one hour and a half.

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More reading:

Rachele Mussolini, the dictator’s long-suffering wife

How Mussolini and his mistress were captured and killed

The controversial career of Alessandra Mussolini

Also on this day:

1927: The birth of World Cup-winning football coach Enzo Bearzot

1973: The death of Oscar-winning actress Anna Magnani

1997: Earthquake damages Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi

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Alessandra Mussolini – politician

Controversial granddaughter of Fascist dictator

Alessandra  Mussolini is an Italian MEP

The former MEP Alessandra Mussolini, niece of actress Sophia Loren and granddaughter of Italy’s former Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, was born on this day in 1962 in Rome.

After a career as an actress and model, Mussolini entered politics in the early 1990s as a member of the neofascist Movimento Sociale Italiano, which had its roots in the Italian Social Republic, the German puppet state led by her grandfather from September 1943 until his death in April 1945.

Her views have changed in more recent years and she has become known for embracing modern issues including abortion, artificial insemination, gay rights and civil unions from a progressive standpoint that has more in common with left-wing feminism.

She has left behind her association with the far right and serves on the European Parliament as representative for Central Italy under a centre-right Forza Italia ticket.

However, she is not without some admiration for the policies of her grandfather.  Only recently she caused consternation when asked her opinion on what to do about an escalating Mafia war in the Roman seaside resort of Ostia by claiming that “granddad would have sorted this out in two or three months.”

Mussolini in her days as an
 aspiring young actress

The daughter of Benito Mussolini’s fourth son Romano, a jazz pianist who married Sophia Loren’s younger sister, Anna Maria Villani Scicolone, also an actress, she was taken under Loren’s wing as a child and was only 14 years old when she appeared with her aunt (in the role of her daughter) and Marcello Mastroianni in Ettore Scola’s award-winning movie Una giornata particolare (A Special Day).

After studying at the American Overseas School and then Sapienza University in Rome, where she graduated in 1986 and then obtained a Master’s in medicine and surgery, Alessandra returned to the cinema, winning acclaim for her role in another Loren hit, Sabato, domenica e lunedi (Saturday, Sunday and Monday), directed by Lina Wertmüller.

Somewhat ironically, given her ancestry, she had a part in the American-made film The Assisi Underground, which focussed on the efforts of a Franciscan priest to rescue Jews from the Nazis

She also recorded an album of romantic pop songs, albeit released only in Japan, and twice posed for Playboy magazine shoots.

She was elected to the Italian parliament in 1992 for a Naples constituency as a member of MSI, which would later evolve into the Allianza Nationale.  The following year she ran for Mayor of Naples, although she was beaten by the former communist, Antonio Bassolino.

Alessandra has inherited some of her
grandfather's talent for passionate speeches

At the time she did not shy from associations with her grandfather’s politics.  At an MSI rally in Rome in 1992, during which supporters defied party instructions not to wear blackshirts and give Fascist salutes, she stood on a balcony at the Palazzo Venezia, from which the self-proclaimed Duce had delivered many speeches, and shouted “Grazia, Nonno!” (Thanks, Granddad!) as supporters marched past.

Later, she quit the Allianza Nationale after its leader, Gianfranco Fini, in an attempt to move the party away from its perceived position at the far right, made a visit to Israel in which he apologised for Italy’s role as an Axis Power in the Second World War and described Fascism as part of the “absolute evil” that brought about the Holocaust, although she conceded that the world should “beg the forgiveness of Israel” for what had happened.

When she then formed the Social Action party and organised a coalition named Social Alternative, it was expected she would continue to propagate a far-right ideology, so it came as a surprise that she chose to campaign on progressive policies usually associated with the left.

After the Italian general election of April 2008, Mussolini served as a member of the Italian parliament within Silvio Berlusconi's alliance of right wing parties, The People of Freedom.

In the election in February 2013, she was elected to the Senate for The People of Freedom, which was rebranded in November 2013 as Berlusconi relaunched Forza Italia, which had brought him huge success in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, including an unprecedented nine years as prime minister, the longest-serving Italian leader since Benito Mussolini.

In the 2014 European Parliament election, Alessandra Mussolini was elected for Forza Italia. She left politics in December 2020 to pursue opportunities in reality television  but returned as an MEP in November 2022, succeeding Antonio Tajani, who had been appointed in the government of Giorgia Meloni.

After failing to be re-elected in 2024, she returned to reality TV, winning the 2026 edition of Grande Fratello VIP - the Italian version of Celebrity Big Brother.

This article was updated in September, 2026.

The Palazzo Venezia looks out over the Piazza Venezia
and the Via del Plebiscito

Travel tip:

The Palazzo Venezia, formerly known as the Palace of St. Mark, is a palace in central Rome, just north of the Capitoline Hill. Originally a modest medieval house intended as the residence of the cardinals appointed to the church of San Marco, in 1469 it became a residential papal palace. In 1564, Pope Pius IV, to curry favour with the Republic of Venice, gave the mansion to the Venetian embassy to Rome on condition that part of the building would remain a residence for the cardinals. Today, the palace, which faces Piazza Venezia and Via del Plebiscito, houses a museum. Its association with Benito Mussolini, who had an office in the palace, led to the balcony from which he made his speeches remaining covered up for many years amid fears it would become a place of pilgrimage for Fascist sympathisers, but it has recently been renovated and opened to the public.

Roman ruins at Ostia Antica

Travel tip:

The seaside resort of Ostia lies 30km (19 miles) to the southwest of the centre of Rome, yet is part of the Rome metropolitan area and thus the only part of the city on the Tyrrhenian Sea.  Situated just across the Tiber river from Fiumicino, home of Rome’s largest international airport, it adjoins the remains of the ancient Roman city of Ostia Antica. Many Romans spend the summer holidays in the modern town, swelling a population of about 85,000.

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