Abstract

This study analyzes the main features of the trial that took place in 1944 in Verona – a city under the jurisdiction of the Italian Social Republic (RSI) – for the sole purpose of prosecuting the members of the Grand Council of Fascism who caused the fall of Mussolini on July 25, 1943. The purpose and political meaning of the process have been analyzed. The use of the retroactive death penalty to punish “treasonµ had a double purpose: a) to justify the trial better than other pre-existing serious crimes; b) to neutralize the right (the “justificationµ) of those who had voted the “Grandi agendaµ.