Margherita Sarfatti

Margherita Sarfatti
Margherita Sarfatti

Margherita Sarfatti (April 8, 1880, Venice — October 30, 1961) was a Jewish Italian journalist, art critic, patron, collector, socialite, and one of Benito Mussolini's mistresses.

Biography

Born Margherita Grassini, the daughter of a wealthy Jewish lawyer, she grew up in a palazzo situated at the Canale Grande in Venice and was educated by private tutors. However, she was soon attracted by socialist ideas and escaped her parents' home at age 18 by marrying Cesare Sarfatti, a lawyer from Padua many years her senior. In 1902 the couple moved to Milan.

In 1911 Margherita Sarfatti met, and started an affair with, Benito Mussolini. As a highly educated and intellectual woman, she played a significant role in the rise of fascism, only to be discarded when her lover turned to anti-Semitism, unable to credit a Jewish woman as his collaborator in the forging of a new ideology. In 1938, Sarfatti left Italy for Argentina and Uruguay; she worked as a journalist in Montevideo.[1] After the war, in 1947, Sarfatti returned to her home country and once again became an influential force in Italian art.

Margherita Sarfatti in popular culture

Actress Susan Sarandon portrayed Sarfatti in the 1999 movie Cradle Will Rock which was written and directed by Sarandon's then longtime companion, Tim Robbins. Sarandon discussed her role, saying:

Margherita is someone who is a legitimate historical figure. She really existed. She really was Mussolini's mistress and was very involved in the cultural shaping of Italy's art movements. She was a patron of new painters in Italy. She came over to the United States to sell Mussolini to the American people, and she did that by using Hearst's column. She wrote a column, and that was how they prepared the United States people for the concept of entering the war on the side of Mussolini, I suppose. And also she was trying to fund the war.

And the complication of this was the fact that she was Jewish, and she in fact was facilitating her own crisis, which eventually would make her flee the country and live in Argentina, I believe, for a number of years before it was safe for her to go back. Whether or not she was just in complete denial or she really truly believed that there was a way to sleep with Mussolini and not be held accountable, I don't know. But she ended up in an awkward position. She was hobnobbing with all these rich American people. I think in the context of the film, she's somebody who has a job to do and because she loved art, she sometimes finds herself to be giving all this art away to people she feels don't really appreciate it.

Further reading

  • Cannistraro, Philip, and Brian R. Sullivan. Il Duce's Other Woman: The Untold Story of Margherita Sarfatti, Mussolini's Jewish Mistress, 1993. ISBN 0-688-06299-7
  • Urso, Simona. Margherita Sarfatti. Dal mito del Dux al mito americano, 2003. ISBN 88-317-8342-4
  • Wieland, Karin. Die Geliebte des Duce. Das Leben der Margherita Sarfatti und die Erfindung des Faschismus, 2004. ISBN 3-446-20484-9
  • Sarfatti,Margherita. The Life of Benito Mussolini, 1925; 2004. ISBN 1-4179-3962-1
  • Gutman, Daniel. El amor judío de Mussolini, 2006. ISBN 987-603-017-5
  • Liffran, Françoise. Margherita Sarfatti, L'égérie du duce, Biography, 2009. ISBN 978-2-02-098353-2

References

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Margherita Sarfatti — (nacida Margherita Grassini) (Venecia, 8 de abril de 1880 Cavallasca, 30 de octubre de 1961) fue una intelectual, escritora, coleccionista y crítica de arte italiana de origen judío, famosa por haber sido amante de Benito Mussolini. Contenido 1… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Margherita Sarfatti — Nom de naissance Margherita Grassini Naissance 8 avril 1880 Venise Décès 30 octobre 1961 (à 81 ans) Cavallasca Nationalité …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Margherita Sarfatti — (* 8. April 1880 in Venedig; † 30. Oktober 1961 in Cavallasca) war eine italienische Schriftstellerin, Geliebte Mussolinis und Begründerin der Künstlergruppe Novecento. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Weiteres …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Margherita — is the Italian language word for daisy , and may refer to: Contents 1 Places 2 People 3 Other 4 See also Places …   Wikipedia

  • Sarfatti — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Jack Sarfatti (* 1939), US amerikanischer theoretischer Physiker und Autor von populären Werken über Quantenphysik und Bewusstsein Margherita Sarfatti (1880–1961), italienische Schriftstellerin, Geliebte… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Gino Sarfatti — (* 1912 in Venedig; † 1984 in Gravedona) war ein italienischer Industriedesigner. Er gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Gestalter für Leuchten und Lampen im 20. Jahrhundert. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben und Werk 2 Auszeichnungen 3 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Sarfatti, Margherita — (Venezia 1883 Cavallasca, Como 1961) saggista e narratrice; animatrice culturale …   Dizionario biografico elementare del Novecento letterario italiano

  • Царфати, Маргарита — Маргарита Царфати Margherita Sarfatti …   Википедия

  • Benito Mussolini — « Mussolini » redirige ici. Pour les autres significations, voir Mussolini (homonymie). Benito Mussolini …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Fascism and ideology — Part of a series on Fascism …   Wikipedia

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