Giuseppe Solaro

Solaro followed with particular attention the implementation of decrees on the socialization of the means of production, promoting initiatives among workers (such as conferences and printing of brochures) in order to inform them of the contents of the new social legislation. In April 1944 he started a "Course of preparation of workers for socialization" to be held in eleven lessons. Along with Zerbino, he denounced to Mussolini the alleged agreement between the Fiat management and the German command aimed at boycotting any initiative aimed at socializing the economy. On 2 December 1944 he appointed Fiat worker and Fascist syndicalist Michele Fassio as the new podestà of Turin.

On 19 July 1944 Solaro assumed command of the newly founded 1st Black Brigade "Ather Capelli" of Turin (one of the largest Black Brigades, with some 2,000 members), which on 20 April 1945 he led in an attack on the town of Chieri, which was sacked and set ablaze, with twenty-five inhabitants taken as hostages. On April 23, 1945, Solaro was promoted to Regional Inspector of the Black Brigades, while Mario Pavia replaced him as federal secretary of the PFR. The collapse of the Italian Social Republic was however imminent, and the city's military leaders, headed by General Enrico Adami Rossi, decided to leave Turin and retreat towards the Valtellina, while Solaro tried in vain to persuade them to stay. Probably underestimating the actual strength of the partisan movement, Solaro argued the need to oppose at least a symbolic resistance in the city, and organized franc-tireur groups tasked with countering the entrance of the partisans into the city with the aim of "making Turin an Alcazar" and resist until the arrival of the Allied forces.

After the Armistice of Cassibile, Solaro joined the Italian Social Republic, and on 16 September 1943 he was appointed to lead the Republican Fascist Party (PFR) of Turin, governing in a triumvirate along with Luigi Riva and Blackshirt General Domenico Mittica. Solaro's appointment was decided by Alessandro Pavolini, who appreciated young people from the School of Fascist Mysticism, which he saw as an intellectual reference point from which to draw the new leadership. On September 30 Paolo Zerbino was appointed head of the Province of Turin, and on 8 October the local Fascist leaders met and divided their tasks; Solaro became federal secretary of the local section of the PFR, Riva was made commander of the Fasce of Turin and deputy federal secretary of the PFR, and Mittica was appointed commander of the Fascist Youth as well as liaison with the MVSN.

In 1940, after the beginning of the Second World War, he was recalled into service as a reserve artillery officer in the Royal Italian Army, while continuing to write newspaper articles and essays on geopolitics. In June 1940, a few days Italy's entry into the war, he graduated in economics, and in October 1940 he founded the Center for Economic and Social Studies, while writing in the national newspaper La Stampa and in the magazine of the provincial Federation of the National Fascist Party.

Born into a working-class family, the son of a railway worker, Solaro graduated as a surveyor before enrolling in the Faculty of Economics and Commerce of the University of Turin in November 1936, joining local the Fascist University Group (GUF), of which he soon became leader. A member of the so-called Fascist left wing, he started writing articles on economic matters for various magazines. Also in November 1936 he married Martina Magnani, known as Tina. On February 14, 1937 he volunteered for the Spanish Civil War as an officer of the Voluntary Militia for National Security (MVSN), participating in the early stages of the Battle of Bilbao, although at the time of the fall of the city he was on leave. Having returned to Italy, he was hired as a surveyor at the Municipality of Turin.

Giuseppe Solaro (Turin, 16 May 1914 – 29 April 1945) was an Italian Fascist politician and soldier, federal secretary of the Republican Fascist Party of Turin during the Italian Social Republic.