Francesco Giunta

A leading figure in the early years of fascism, he helped to build the movement in several regions of the country and was particularly active in Trieste.

Born in the Tuscan town of San Piero a Sieve, he started his career as a lawyer, having studied law and philosophy at university.

[1] He worked with Benito Mussolini to set up a number of Fascist squads that attacked a group of allegedly separatist Slovenes in northern Istria.

[9] He also sought to increase party discipline and was behind a brutal physical attack on Cesare Forni, a leading dissident within the Fascist movement.

A fervent anti-Yugoslav since the times of his activity in the South Slav-inhabited Julian March, Giunta brought a number of his old colleagues from Trieste with him.

[citation needed] His regime became noted for its brutality against the local Croat population and its fierce repression of the Yugoslav partisan movement in the area.