DIARY 1937-1943

The Secret Diaries of Mussolini's Foreign Minister and Son-in Law
Introduction by Renzo De Felice and an essay by Sumner Welles
by Galeazzo Ciano

ISBN#1-929631-02-2 • hardcover 2002

$ 38.00

The Ciano Diaries are one of the most important documents recording the events taking place in Europe leading up to the Second World War and how they affected the rest of the world. Galeazzo Ciano was in the forefront of those momentous events, not only because he happened to be Mussolini’s son-in-law, but more importantly because at the age of 35 he was also Italy’s Minster of Foreign Affairs and one of the major proponents of the Axis alliance with Nazi Germany.

The Diary had its own troubled history since the Nazis, and Hitler and Ribbentrop in particular, wanted to suppress it at all costs. The first part was hidden in Italy in 1943 and the other was smuggled into Switzerland in 1944 by Edda Ciano, who was Galeazzo’s wife and Mussolini’s daughter. The Diary is offered here to English speaking readers as a single complete document for the first time. The full text now available in the original Italian has been restored and translated. The result is a fascinating daily record of all the major discussions and impressions gathered by Ciano in his innumerable talks with foreign and Italian politicians, diplomats and his own boss and father-in-law, the Duce, Benito Mussolini who as founder of the fascist regime, reigned supreme over Italian politics for almost 22 years. This new edition also contains the original introduction by Sumner Welles to the U.S. edition published in 1945 and the preface prepared by noted Italian historian Renzo De Felice for the first complete Italian edition of 1980. Ciano is required reading for anyone seriously interested in the Second World War.