Benito Mussolini's air raid shelter in Rome to be opened to the public

Benito Mussolini's personal air raid shelter is opening to the public, 74 years after Italy's former fascist dictator started building a network of fortified underground rooms to protect himself and his family from wartime bombing.

Rome's department for culture said opening the site under Mussolini's luxurious villa and gardens would remind locals and tourists alike of "one of the darkest pages of our history".

Mussolini ruled over Italy from 1922 until 1943. He joined the second world war on Adolf Hitler's side and passed race laws under which thousands of Jews were persecuted.

Fearful of Allied bombing, the leader also known as "Il Duce" decided to adapt a wine cellar into a shelter complete with anti-gas doors, Marco Placidi, president of non-profit organisation "Underground Rome" said.

"It was clearly very inconvenient because the bunker was located in the garden 100-150 metres away from the living quarters," Placidi said.

Mussolini decided to build another bunker, and then a third, which was still unfinished by the time he was arrested in 1943. He was later killed while fleeing Allied forces in April 1945, and his body strung up by the feet for public viewing in Milan.