Galeazzo Ciano Gian Galeazzo Ciano , 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari ( ; 18 March 1903 – 11 January 1944 ) was Foreign Minister of Fascist Italy from 1936 until 1943 and Benito Mussolini ' s son - in - law . On January 11 , 1944 Count Ciano was shot by firing squad at the behest of his father - in - law , Mussolini , under pressure from Nazi Germany . Ciano left a massive diary , that has been used among others by William Shirer in his monumental " The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich " and in the 4 - hour HBO docu - drama " Mussolini and I " . Early life . Gian Galeazzo Ciano was born in Livorno , Italy , in 1903 . He was the son of Costanzo Ciano and his wife Carolina Pini ; his father was an Admiral and World War I hero in the Royal Italian Navy ( for which service he was given the aristocratic title of Count by Victor Emmanuel III ) , founding member of the National Fascist Party and re - organizer of the Italian merchant navy in the 1920s . The elder Ciano ( he was nicknamed " Ganascia " , meaning " The Jaw " ) was not above making a private profit from his public office . He would use his influence to depress the stock of a company , after which he would buy a controlling interest , which would increase his wealth after its value rebounded . He owned among other holdings a newspaper , farmland in Tuscany , and other properties worth millions . As a result his son was accustomed to living a high - profile and glamorous life , which he maintained until almost the end . After studying Philosophy of Law , the younger Ciano had a brief experience as a journalist before choosing a diplomatic career , and served as an attaché in Rio de Janeiro . On 24 April 1930 , he married Benito Mussolini ' s daughter Edda Mussolini , with whom he soon left for Shanghai where he served as Italian Consul . Back in Italy , he became the minister of press and propaganda in 1935 . Foreign Minister . Ciano took part in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia ( 1935 – 36 ) as a bomber squadron commander ( his unit , 15ª squadriglia da bombardamento , was dubbed " La Disperata " ) where his future opponent Alessandro Pavolini served as lieutenant . Upon his highly - trumpeted comeback as a " hero " he became Foreign Minister in 1936 , replacing Mussolini . The following year he was allegedly involved in organizing the murder of the brothers Carlo Rosselli and Nello Rosselli , two exiled anti - fascist major activists killed in the French spa town of Bagnoles - de - l ' Orne on 9 June 1937 . In 1937 , prior to the Italian annexation , Count Gian Galeazzo Ciano was an Honorary Citizen of Tirana , Albania . Ciano was skeptical of Mussolini ' s war plans and knew that Italy ' s armed forces were ill - prepared for a major war . When Mussolini formally declared war on France , he wrote in his diary " I am sad , very sad . The adventure begins . May God help Italy ! " After 1939 , Ciano became increasingly disenchanted with Nazi Germany and the course of World War II , although when the Italian regime embarked on the ill - advised " parallel war " alongside Germany , he went along fairly convinced , even through the terribly - devised Italian invasion of Greece and its subsequent setbacks . Prior to the German campaign in France in 1940 Count Ciano leaked a warning of imminent invasion to neutral Belgium . In late 1942 and early 1943 , following the Axis defeat in North Africa , other major setbacks on the Eastern Front , and the Anglo - American assault on Sicily looming on the horizon , Ciano turned against prosecution of the doomed war and actively pushed for Italy ' s exit from the conflict . He was silenced by being removed from his post as Foreign Minister , an action which took place on February 5 , 1943 . Then he was offered the post of ambassador to the Holy See , and presented his credentials to the Pope on March 1 . In this role he could remain in Rome , to be watched closely by Mussolini . The Regime ' s position had become even more shaky with the coming summer , however , and court circles were already probing the Allies commands for agreements of some sort . On the afternoon of 24 July 1943 , Mussolini summoned the Fascist Grand Council to its first meeting since 1939 , prompted by the Allied invasion of Sicily . At that meeting , Mussolini announced that the Germans were thinking of evacuating the south . This led Count Dino Grandi to launch a blistering attack on his longtime comrade . Grandi put on the table a resolution asking the king to resume his full constitutional powers — in effect , a vote leading to Mussolini ' s total ousting from leadership . The motion won by an unexpectedly large margin , 19 - 7 , with Ciano voting in favor . Mussolini did not think the vote had any substantive value , and showed up at work the next morning like any other day . That afternoon , Victor Emmanuel III , the King , summoned him to Villa Savoia and dismissed him from office . Upon leaving the Villa , Mussolini was arrested . For the next two months he was moved from place to place to hide him and prevent his rescue by the Germans . Ultimately Mussolini was sent to Gran Sasso , a mountain resort in central Italy ( Abruzzo ) . He was kept there in complete isolation until rescued by the Germans . Mussolini then set up a puppet government in the area of northern Italy still under German occupation called the Repubblica Sociale Italiana ( R . S . I . ) . Death . Ciano , having been dismissed from his post by the new government , attempted to find shelter in Germany , alongside Edda and their three children , but the Germans returned him to R . S . I . agents and he was then formally arrested for treason . Under German and Fascist pressure , Mussolini had Ciano tried . After the Verona trial sentence , a Fascist firing squad , at a shooting range in Verona on 11 January 1944 , executed Ciano and others ( including Emilio De Bono and Giovanni Marinelli ) who had voted for Mussolini ' s ousting . The executed Italians were tied to chairs and shot in the back as a further humiliation . Ciano was effectively executed for dissenting against " Il Duce " ' s will . His last words were " Long live Italy ! " Ciano is remembered for his famous " Diaries 1937 – 1943 " , a daily record of his meetings with Mussolini , Hitler , von Ribbentrop , foreign ambassadors and other political figures that proved embarrassing to the Nazi leadership and the Fascist diehards . Edda tried to barter his papers in return for his life with the help of factions in the German high command ; Gestapo agents helped her confidant Emilio Pucci rescue some of them from Rome . Pucci was then a lieutenant in the Italian Air Force , but would find fame after the war as a fashion designer . When Hitler vetoed the plan , Edda hid the bulk of the papers at a clinic in Ramiola , near Medesano and on 9 January 1944 , Pucci helped her escape to Switzerland with the 5 diaries covering the war years . The diary was first published in 1946 in English in New York in an incomplete version . The complete English version was published in 2002 . Children . Gian Galeazzo and Edda Ciano had three children :