Mussolini's corpse Benito Mussolini

the corpse of mussolini (second left) next petacci (middle) , other executed fascists in piazzale loreto, milan, 1945

after being kicked , spat upon, bodies hung upside down roof of esso gas station. bodies stoned below civilians. done both discourage fascists continuing fight, , act of revenge hanging of many partisans in same place axis authorities. corpse of deposed leader subject ridicule , abuse. fascist loyalist achille starace captured , sentenced death , taken piazzale loreto , shown body of mussolini. starace, once said of mussolini god, saluted left of leader before shot. body of starace subsequently hung next of mussolini.

after death , display of corpse in milan, mussolini buried in unmarked grave in musocco cemetery, north of city. on easter sunday 1946, body located , dug domenico leccisi , 2 other neo-fascists.

on loose months—and cause of great anxiety new italian democracy—mussolini s body recaptured in august, hidden in small trunk @ certosa di pavia, outside milan. 2 fransciscan brothers subsequently charged concealing corpse, though discovered on further investigation had been on move. unsure do, authorities held remains in kind of political limbo ten years, before agreeing allow them re-interred @ predappio in romagna, birthplace. adone zoli, then-current prime minister, contacted donna rachele, dictator s widow, tell returning remains, needed support of far-right in parliament, including leccisi himself. in predappio dictator buried in crypt (the posthumous honor granted mussolini). tomb flanked marble fasces, , large idealized marble bust of him above tomb.