Clara Petacci

Clara Petacci (born Claretta Petacci; 28 February 1912 – 28 April 1945) was the mistress of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who was twenty-eight years her senior. On 27 April 1945, when a convoy of escaping Italian Social Republic members, including Mussolini, was captured by Communist partisans, it is said that Petacci was offered the opportunity to go unmolested. On 28 April, she and Mussolini were taken to Mezzegra and shot. On the following day, 29 April, Mussolini's and Petacci's bodies were taken to the Piazzale Loreto in Milan and hung upside down in front of a petrol station. The bodies were photographed as a crowd vented their rage upon them.