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eBay stamps on Mussolini's brain

Pulls Il Duce body bits auction

Customers of online tat bazaar eBay were on Friday denied the chance to bid for bits of former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, when the site swiftly pulled a listing for samples of his blood and brain.

The alleged remains of Il Duce, in three glass ampoules, were pitched at a starting price of €15,000. His granddaughter Alessandra Mussolini, former glamour model turned right-wing MP, was co-incidentally at a seminar on internet crime when she was told of the outrage, and was not best pleased.

She said: "This is very serious, these are the kinds of things we have to guard against."

Ms Mussolini believes the material could have been removed from grandpa during an 1945 autopsy at Milan's Policlinico hospital, following Mussolini's execution by partisans.

The hospital, though, says anything whipped from his body was destroyed in 1947. The rest of Mussolini was eventually returned to his family in 1957, and now lies in his birthplace in Predappio. ®

Bootnote

The Telegraph notes that Predappio has become a shrine to the Fascist leader, and does "a roaring trade in Mussolini-themed souvenirs". Presumably, then, there would be keen interest in his brain and blood, which we suspect would be used to clone mini-Mussolinis in a chilling Boys From Brazil style.

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