Growing up in Mussolini's Fascist Italy

Andrea Meloni was born in Year VI of the Fascist Era in Italy. In his memoirs he tells stories about his coming of age in Rome under Mussolini. In elementary school he delighted in being a little Fascist, participating in military drills in his schoolyard and the streets of Rome. As a teenager he gradually became disillusioned with fascism as Mussolini led Italy into World War II on the side of Germany and eventually fell from power when the Allies began their invasion of Italy. He describes the first years of his life living in extreme poverty in the village of Acuto, his move to Rome at age five, the years under Mussolini, the hard life during the German occupation of Rome, the civil war between fascists and partisans, and the resulting post-war devastation.