Secret Mussolini dis...?

I got a call from a hospitalized academic recently who said he was at the Madonna Della Difesa Church on Dante Street which features the controversial Guido Nincheri painting which gives tribute to fascist leader Benito Mussolini on the ceiling. My caller overheard a CEGEP teacher discussing the work, saying that if you look closely, at least one of the characters looking at Mussolini is making hand gestures that suggest they are disrespecting him.

Nincheri's descendents later suggested that the painter was hesitant to glorify the fascist leader, but Catholics felt indebted to him for having made The Vatican a separate state, plus he was generous with his funding of Italian institutions overseas, so he got payback through pictures like this (thanks to Kate for the photo snap).

I passed this secret-disrespect thing by Hustak, who has researched the painting. He'd never heard this theory before but remains a skeptic.

Montreal's Italians have always had a soft spot for Mussolini but it was by no means unanimous. Joseph Spada, a socialist, ran a local Italian-language newspaper that lobbied against his legacy. He battled pro-Mussolini publisher Montreal Dieni Gentile whose son-in-law Joe Frantino was president of the Casa d’Italia until last I checked. Frantino runs a cafe opposite the church which long had a bust and portraits of Mussolini prominently featured. He apparently has them in the back room now, although the actual Casa d'Italia still has a plaque in honour of Mussolini just inside the entrance. One chap named Frank used to e-mail me confessing that he'd occasionally go in and spray paint over the plaque because he objected to Mussolini's legacy of fascist behaviour.