The incredible story of Antonio Salazar, the dictator who died twice | Marco Ferrari

For more than forty years, Portugal was under the rule of one of the longest dictatorships in Europe, created and led by Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. His regime lasted from the 1930s to the 1970s, surviving the reigns of Hitler, Franco and Mussolini. Salazar managed to maintain Portugal's neutrality during World War II, remaining loyal to the Portuguese-English alliance, but also created a harsh system of repression. During his reign, numerous penitentiaries were built on remote islands and in medieval fortresses, and Lisbon turned into a city of spies. Until the end of his life, Salazar ruled a huge colonial empire that stretched from Guinea to Mozambique, from East Timor to Macau. His corporatist and authoritarian regime was overthrown by the Carnation Revolution of 1974, which returned Portugal to Europe.

The last years of Salazar's reign are associated with fantastic events. During a pedicure session, he fell from a chair and suffered a head injury. After brain surgery, he became incapacitated, but no one dared to admit that he had been removed from power. Instead, his entourage simulated his presence in office for two years, organizing fictitious cabinet meetings, fake state visits and maintaining an information system created especially for him: interviews on television and radio, as well as unique copies of his favorite newspaper with his portrait on the front pages. columns

These tragic and surreal stages of Salazar's life are described in detail by the Italian writer and journalist Marco Ferrari, who is a deep connoisseur of the history, culture and realities of life in Portugal.