Gabriele D'Annunzio

dannunzio_a_fiume Italian Decadent poet, novelist, playwright, aviator, womanizer, journalist, and anarchist. Blind in one eye after an airplane accident during the First World War. (The plane was on the ground at the time.) After the war was over, he led an "expeditionary force" to conquer the city of Fiume (present-day Rijeka) on the Dalmatian coast. There he imposed martial law and set up a utopian government whose primary principle was music. He managed to hold the city for a year, surviving by acts of piracy. Eventually the Italians had enough of this nonsense and shelled his palace, forcing D'Annunzio to abdicate. It was fun while it lasted. He had a strong influence on Mussolini, specifically on his oratorial style, and for a time was a rival of Il Duce until he "accidentally" defenestrated in 1922. No hard feelings though: Mussolini gave him a splendid villa on the Lago di Garda, where D'Annunzio spent the rest of his days living in utter decadent excess, dying in 1938.

Timeline

12 Mar 1863 Gabriele D'Annunzio born, Pescara, Italy.
1879 Gabriele D'Annunzio is deflowered by a Florentine prostitute.
12 Sep 1919 Assisted by a few hundred black-shirted Ardenti, D'Annunzio takes the city of Fiume (present-day Rijeka).
1920 Gabriele D'Annunzio employs piracy on trade routes on the Adriatic Sea to support the city of Fiume.
3 Dec 1920 Declares war on Italy.
28 Dec 1920 Italian warships shell the imperial palace in Fiume. D'Annunzio abdicates and flees the city.
1 Mar 1938 Gabriele D'Annunzio dies of a cerebral hemmorrhage, Lago di Garda.


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