Mussolini the musician’s violin to be sold

A 300-year-old violin once owned by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini has emerged for sale for £150,000.

The Italian ruler was an accomplished violinist and it is thought he owned the instrument in the Twenties and Thirties while leader of the country.

Mussolini would play duets with his fourth son, Romano, around the time he imposed a fascist state on Italy.

The violin was made around 1700 by Italian Hieronymus Amati, whose grandfather Andrea is considered to have invented the violin in the 16th century.

Since the Second World War, the instrument has passed through the hands of several collectors and is now up for auction at Bonhams.

It is being sold alongside a picture of Mussolini playing a violin — although it is not the same instrument.

Philip Scott, Bonhams’ director of musical instruments, said: “This is a very old Italian violin that used to belong to Benito Mussolini.

“It was made around 1700 by Hieronymus Amati, the grandson of Andrea Amati who, in the 16th century, is credited with creating the violin family.

“It is thought Mussolini would have owned it in the years before the war, in the Twenties and Thirties. It is a little-known fact that Mussolini was a keen violinist … if only he had stuck to music and given up politics.”

He said that the violin was authenticated by an American expert in 1955. “Amati violins are keenly sought after for the quality of their craftsmanship and the beauty of their sound, “ he added. “This violin, by the last of the family to devote his career to instrument making has, of course, the additional fascination of a direct link to a well known historical figure.”

Mussolini was defeated in a leadership vote and arrested after the Allies invaded Italy. He escaped from prison in April 1945 but was recaptured and executed. His body was then hung upside down in a public square in Milan.

The auction will take place in London on May 12.