282 THE RISE OF ITALIAN FASCISM
Another influence was being exerted at court in favour
of fascism ; that of the queen mother, Margaret of Savoy,
widow of Umberto I3 and the inspirer of the despotic policy
which had led to his assassination by Bresci. When the three
commanding officers of the fascist military forces, De.Bono,
De Vecchi and Balbo, went to Bordighera to complete the
preparations for the march on Rome, Queen Margaret
asked them to dine at her palace. De Bono and De Vecchi
accepted, realizing that she knew the reason for their presence
in the town. When they took their leave she c gave them her
best wishes for the success of the fascist schemes, which aspire
to the safety and aggrandisement of the nation ' : so wrote
Balbo in his Diary.
The fascist high command drew up its plan : General
De Bono decided to concentrate the fascist troops at Santa
Marinella, near Civitavecchia, Monterotondo and Tivoli.
They were not counting on the southern forces. The head-
quarters of the Quadrumvirate were to be in Perugia ;
in Foligno, also in Umbria, they could concentrate, as a
reserve force, the troops that arrived late. On October 20
there was a meeting in Florence of the three officers with
Michele Bianchi and the deputy Giurati. They made the
final arrangements for the Naples adunata and appointed
c inspectors general3 for the twelve zones into which Italy
had been divided.1 The ist and 2nd zones (Liguria, Pied-
mont, the province of Pavia, Lombardy) were allotted to
Captain Cesare Forni ; the 3rd (Alto Adige, part of
Venetia), to Italo Bresciari ; the 4th (part of Venetia, the
whole of Julian Venetia) to the deputy. Major Giovanni
Giurati; the 5th (Emilia and the Romagna) to Major
Attilio Teruzzi; the 6th (Rome, Perugia) to Lieutenant
Ulisse Igliori; the yth (Tuscany) to the Marquis Dino
Perrone Compagni ; the 8th (Marches and Abruzzi) to
Captain Giuseppe Bottai; the gth (Campania and Basilicata)
to Captain Aurelio Padovani; the loth (Apulia and Cala-
bria) to the deputy Captain Giuseppe Caradonna ; the
nth (Sicily) to Captain Achille Starace ; the nomination
to the 12th (Sardinia) was postponed. The fascist columns
1 P. 265.