Guido Podrecca was a former socialist MP who, after years of interventionist activity, joined Mussolini’s newspaper in 1917 to later become a fascist and a friend and associate of the future dictator. His family originated from the Slovene area known as «Italian Slavia», but held fiercely Italian patriotic beliefs. His attitude towards the South Slavs, while similar in some aspects to many of his «Popolo d’Italia» colleagues’ (i.e. a strong anti-Croat sentiment, a distrust of the Yugoslav idea), was characteristic when dealing with Slovenes. Contrary to the normal course of action of his newspaper, he believed a successful and peaceful merger between Italian and Slavs in the new provinces was possible, possibly even relished by the Slovenes themselves. His lexicon reflected this attitude, and despicable actions and traits were never ascribed to Slovenes. Likewise, he claimed that the unavoidable italian «assimilation» of the «allogeni» needed to be as slow and gentle as possible.
