PREDAPPIO – Four thousand people gathered at the tomb of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on the centenary of the Fascist march on Rome. 

 Thousands of people assembled in the town of Predappio in the Emilia-Romagna region on Sunday morning to celebrate the one-hundred year anniversary of the Fascist march on Rome in October 1922, by which Mussolini assumed power in Italy. 

 The ceremony opened with a procession to the cemetery in Predappio, the dictator's town of birth. Many participants were seen wearing the traditional fezzes and black shirts of the Arditi, while others wore commemorative t-shirts and held Italian flags. 

 The customary greetings and thanks were given before the tomb of the Duce, and a grandniece of the leader, Orsola Mussolini, spoke briefly. The crowd also chanted “Comrade Benito Mussolini. Present!” three times. On a small stage assembled above the cemetery steps, Mirco Santarelli, regional president of the Arditi, asked those present to only place a hand on their heart to commemorate the dictator. Performing the Roman salute would risk condemnation, he explained. This advice seemed to fall on deaf ears, as scores of arms were held aloft while waiting to enter the crypt.

 Organizers claimed that four thousand people attended the ceremony, while official estimates put the figure at two thousand. 

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