A plaque to commemorate the Dublin woman who shot Benito Mussolini is set to be unveiled by Dublin City Council this week.
Violet Gibson, who had a privileged upbringing on Merrion Square as daughter of a Lord Chancellor of Ireland, shot 'Il Duce' as he walked among a crowd in Rome in 1926. The Fascist leader reportedly moved his head at the last minute which meant the bullet grazed his nose.
The would-be assassin tried to shoot again but the revolver miss fired. Violet was almost killed by the crowd but was saved by police, while Mussolini survived with only minor injuries.
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She was then deported to Britain after being released without charge at the request of Mussolini. Violet spent the rest of her life in a psychiatric hospital in England despite repeated pleas for her release.
She died in 1956 and was buried in Kingsthorpe Cemetery in Northampton. Violet Gibson was the subject of a 2014 RTE radio documentary and a 2020 TV documentary.
The plaque is set to be unveiled on Thursday morning at her childhood home, 12 Merrion Square North, Dublin 2. Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy will unveil the plaque and will be joined by speakers; Independent Councillor Mannix Flynn, who proposed the plaque, and Siobhan Lynam who was involved in both documentaries about Violet.
The commemoration comes as far-right leader Giorgia Meloni is expected to form the country's most right-wing government since World War Two.
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