Benito Mussolini stripped of Italian Mountaineering Club honorary membership

During the annual assembly held in Biella from 20 to 21 May, the Italian Mountaineering Club revoked the name of Benito Mussolini from the Register of Honorary members. Mussolini became an honorary member in 1926, during he years that saw the CAI directly dependent on the National Fascist Party. The move is part of the Club's efforts to deal with its often complicated past; earlier this year it formally reinstated numerous Jews who did not have their membership renewed during the Fascist era.

"This is an act of coherence", underlined CAI General President Antonio Montani. "Personally I don't know why in 2023 his name was still on the list, alongside great names in the history of mountaineering, but as of tomorrow it will no longer be there. The founding principles of the Italian Mountaineering Club are incompatible with any form of totalitarian regime. The recovered memory is now entrusted to future generations".

In this sense, the Italian Mountaineering Club has issued a tender for the conservation and cataloging of the historical archives of its Sections, with the aim of searching for documents and other sources useful for historical reconstruction, testifying to the purge of members due to the 1938 racial laws. The tender was issued in January 2023 and covers all related expenses from May 2022 to 30 September 2023.