A Renewed Interest in Violet Gibson’s Mental Health

Abstract

This short communication highlights the recent historiographical interest in the shooting of the Duce Benito Mussolini in 1926, carried out by the Anglo-Irish woman Violet Gibson. A psychiatric report was compiled by two famous Italian phrenologists, Sante de Sanctis and Augusto Giannelli. The Court took their judgment into account, and the accused was declared incompetent. However, things would soon change with the introduction of the Rocco Code (1930), which was less open-minded in accepting the principles of positivistic psychological determinism.