The Italian town of Salo, known for hosting Benito Mussolini’s short-lived Fascist Republic during World War II, has officially revoked the dictator’s honorary citizenship, local authorities confirmed on Thursday.
Salo, located on the shores of Lake Garda, was the center of Mussolini’s Nazi-backed puppet regime from 1943 to 1945. However, the town had granted him honorary citizenship much earlier, on May 23, 1924, while he was still in power.
The decision to revoke the honor came during a council meeting on Wednesday, following a motion by local official Evoli Tiberio. The move was intended to mark the 80th anniversary of the war’s end and reinforce democratic values.
Mayor Francesco Cagnini, 29, stated that Mussolini’s ideology had no place in modern Italy or Salo. However, he clarified that the revocation was not an attempt to erase history but rather an effort to ensure its lessons are better understood by students, citizens, and tourists.
Hundreds of Italian towns awarded Mussolini honorary citizenship before World War II, and many have since revoked it as part of Italy’s ongoing reckoning with its Fascist past.