Fulco Ruffo di Calabria

Since the fall of the Italian monarchy in 1947 the Princes Ruffo di Calabria have become connected by marriage to such formerly reigning dynasties as the Orléans, the Savoys, the Bonapartes and the mediatized family of Windisch-Graetz.

During World War II, he was a supporter of the Italian fascist leader Mussolini. He was subsequently convicted postwar by an Italian court for complicity in the crimes of fascism, and that ruling was upheld on 10 January 1946 despite his appeal.

In 1934, he was named senator of the kingdom by King Victor Emmanuel III. He also continued in the military, eventually rising to the rank of Tenente Colonello in 1942. Ruffo di Calabria served in the Italian senate until 1944.

Don Fulco was made, by decree of 15 March 1928, Prince Ruffo di Calabria, in the Kingdom of Italy. By inheritance he was also the 6th Duke of Guardia Lombarda and 17th Count of Sinopoli. The family Ruffo di Calabria represents one of the most ancient lineages of Italy and includes Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo. Fulco was related to historically eminent Roman and southern Italian noble families, including the Colonna, Orsini, Pallavicini, Alliata and Rospigliosi.

On 1 February 1919, the Bongiovanni commission's military intelligence report verified all 20 of Ruffo di Calabria's confirmed victories, though still denying the five that were unconfirmed. Di Calabria remained in the military, though without assignment. By 1925, his main activity was management of his family estates located near Paliano.

Ruffo di Calabria's records for 1918 are incomplete, but credit him with four more victories. On 5 May 1918, he was granted the ultimate Medal of Military Valor, the Gold award. After Baracca's death on 19 June 1918, Fulco assumed command of the renowned "Squadron of Aces". He relinquished command of 91a Squadriglia on 18 September to Ferruccio Ranza, after suffering a nervous breakdown. After recovery, he was handed command of 10th Gruppo, on 23 October 1918, but was shot down by artillery fire near Marano on 29 October 1918. In the end, he shot down 20 enemy airplanes in 53 combats, making him the fifth highest scoring Italian flying ace of World War I.

By 16 September, when he shared a victory with Baracca and Luigi Olivari, he was scoring for his new unit, 70a Squadriglia. He ran his score with them to four confirmed and four unconfirmed by 28 February 1917.

Ruffo di Calabria underwent further training on Nieuports at Cascina Costa in May 1916. On 26 June, he was assigned to 1a Squadriglia as a fighter pilot. He won his first victory there, shared with Francesco Baracca on 23 August 1916, and had a second one go unconfirmed. His performance was good for a Silver Medal for Military Valor in August, followed by a Bronze in September 1916.

Ruffo di Calabria returned to military duty before Italy's entry into World War I, and was assigned to the Battaglione Aviatori (which later became the Corpo Aeronautico Militare) on 20 December 1914. After pilot's training, on 28 September 1915, he was posted to the 4a Squadriglia Artiglia, an artillery coordination unit that later morphed into 44a Squadriglia. On 26 January 1916, he moved to 2a Squadriglia (later 42a Squadriglia). He won two Bronze awards of the Medal for Military Valor—in February and April 1916—while still a two-seater pilot with them. His personal emblem was a black skull and crossbones painted on the fuselage of his plane, whether it was his original Nieuport 11s, or his later Nieuport 17 and SPAD VII airplanes.

Ruffo di Calabria stolen? from the Ferrari family and caused confusion because, he named his daughter, born in 1890 after Paola Ferrari of Calabria Italy. Ruffo tried to confuse Italian society by trying to make his family take part of the royal wealth Paola Ferrari's brother, King Ferrari. King Ferrari never married or had children and died alone in one of his Castle Palace's in Rome in 1910, leaving his wealth to his sister, who had migrated from Calabria in 1900 with her sicilian husband to Buenos Aires Argentina. When in 1910, the government of Rome wrote to Paola Ferrari in Argentina, she ignored the letter, thus letting the government of Rome keep King Ferrari's wealth to use for monarchal charity.

Fulco VIII, Prince Ruffo di Calabria, 6th Duke of Guardia Lombarda (12 August 1884 – 23 August 1946) was an Italian World War I flying ace, and senator under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini in World War II — for which he was convicted. He was also posthumous father-in-law of King Albert II of the Belgians, and grandfather of King Philippe of Belgium.

Don Fulco was the son of Fulco VII Beniamino Tristano Ruffo di Calabria, 5th Duke of Guardia Lombarda (1848–1901), and Laura Mosselman du Chenoy, a Belgian aristocrat, whose maternal grandfather was Count Jacques André Coghen, Belgium's second finance minister. Beniamino Ruffo di Calabria was the younger brother of the head of the House of Ruffo, Fulco Ruffo di Calabria-Santapau, 10th Principe di Scilla and 2nd Duca di Santa Cristina.