After the breath-taking rescue of Mussolini by his German former allies in September the former dictator was given nominal control over the Italian Social Republic, a shrinking puppet state comprising territories where the German army was still exercising effective control. As the German threat slowly receded in a northerly direction the Italian government emerged from the shadows. In June 1944, with Rome passing to the military control of the Americans and British, Marshal Badoglio stepped down, and on 18 June 1944 a new government under the leadership of Ivanoe Bonomi took charge. Marcello Soleri, now Treasury Minister, was a senior member of it. After five months the government resigned to prepare the ground for the first democratic national election since 1921. Before the general election took place, however, a new government was sworn in under Ferruccio Parri, in which Soleri retained his Treasury portfolio. He was active in finding ways to support desperately needed post-war reconstruction work, obtaining funds in various ways, both conventional and "imaginative". It was also hugely significant that on 5 January 1945 a new Bank of Italy governor was appointed. The post had been vacant since the dismissal and imprisonment of Vincenzo Azzolini. The new incumbent was Luigi Einaudi, known at the time as a distinguished financial journalist who had suspended his contributions to mainstream Italian newspapers during the dictatorship years. (He had, for many years, contributed to the London-based Economist.) Luigi Einaudi combined political sensitivity and conventionally sound economic instincts with a deep commitment to Europeanism. When it came to creating a stable post-war economy that would operate in the interests of Italian citizens, Soleri and Einaudi made an effective team.