Abstract:
Sacrificio is a study of Lauro de Bosis (1901-1931), a brilliant young Italian aristocrat, classical scholar, poet, and patriot and of his mounting and alarmed comprehension of the evils of Mussolini’s Fascism. A founder of the Alleanza Nationale, a distinguished anti-Fascist group, whose leaders were found out and imprisoned while he was in London, de Bosis was persuaded to continue the struggle from abroad. Convinced that only a heroic and sacrificial act would arouse Italy, in 1931 he flew a small plane from Marseille directly over the heart of Rome, dropping 400,000 leaflets addressed to the King and the Italian people exhorting them to save the Italian State and flew off into the night.