Alessandro Mussolini

Alessandro Mussolini was an Italian socialist activist who was the father of Benito Mussolini, the founder and leader of Italian fascism. Mussolini was a blacksmith by profession. He was married to Rosa Maltoni, a schoolteacher, with whom he had three children, including Benito. He exercised considerable influence over his son Benito's early political beliefs, even naming his son Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini after three leaders he admired: Benito Juárez, Amilcare Cipriani and Andrea Costa.