Margherita S - La femme qui inventa Mussolini

Margherita Sarfatti, Mussolini’s companion and a highly influential figure in his circle, remains a largely forgotten woman within the Duce’s entourage.

Born in 1880 in a 15th century palace, on the edge of the former Venice Ghetto, she spent the rest of her youth in Palazzo Bembo, on the Grand Canal.

Her father wanted the best teachers for his daughter. That did not prevent her from becoming a committed socialist activist—and subsequently one of the party’s most influential members—while also being a pioneering feminist!

Her salon, first in Milan and later in Rome, attracted the greatest names among Italian and foreign composers, writers, and artists. She loved collecting "precious people."

As the creator of the Novecento—an art movement aligned with Fascism—she gathered the most prominent figures of the day around her. In 1923, she had her lover, Benito Mussolini, inaugurate the first Novecento exhibition.

Twenty years of a mad, mutual passion. To Mussolini, Margherita was his shadow, his phantom, and the pen behind his speeches. She sacrificed her life for him—all that mattered was being there, present behind the scenes of his private life. She was "the Duce’s other woman."

She was Jewish.

A Pierre-Henry Salfati documentary.

In association with France Télévisions (France 3)

Director: Pierre-Henry Salfati

DOP : Irina Lubtchansky, Jean-Jacques Mrejen

Length : 52 min

Editor : Deborah Braun et Jean-Baptiste Morin

Sound engineer : Dominique Davy