Married to Benito Mussolini's favourite daughter Edda, young Count Galeazzo Ciano 1903-44 became il Duce's confidant, emissary, and heir apparent in the years preceding the Second World War. Appointed foreign minister in 1936, Ciano played a central role in the Axis partnership negotiations with Hitler and von Ribbentrop and masterminded Italy's invasions of Albania and Greece. But Ciano came to disagree with his father-in-law over Italy's partnership with Germany, and he joined with other dissident Fascists plotting to remove Mussolini from office. Ciano was found guilty of treason and, despite desperate attempts to trade his sensational diaries for his life, was shot. This is the first biography of Ciano in English, and it is based in part on those diaries, smuggled by Edda out of the country in her own dramatic escape. 'Mussolini's Shadow' peels away much of the mystery of the Fascist era, provides an eye-opening account of the ruling figures of Germany and Italy, and offers a close