Aurelio Padovani

Aurelio Padovani (February 28, 1889 – June 16, 1926) was an early leader of the Italian Fascist movement.

Padovani was born in Portici. He married a schoolteacher in 1910, with whom he had six children, and he held the occupation of a clerk. Having volunteered for the Bersaglieri at the age of 18, he served in the 11th Regiment during the Italo-Turkish War and First World War, eventually attaining the rank of captain. A charismatic figure, Just as quickly, however, internal rivalries and tensions increased. Padovani was an exponent of the left wing of fascism, and he criticized the party for becoming too bourgeois at the expense of workers' interests. An avowed republican, which Mussolini opposed, and so Padovani was made to give up his ties to that organization in February 1923. This proved to be his undoing, as the Nationalists still held significant sway in the countryside, and he was later reinstated, He was stepping out onto the balcony of his home to greet a throng of admirers, when the balcony inexplicably collapsed, killing Padovani and eight others. Foul play has long been suspected, as Padovani's lingering popularity and influence were a probable source of unease on Mussolini's part.

Aurelio Padovani is buried at Poggioreale Cemetery in Naples.