Interview with Enzo Biagi, taken from “1935 e dintorni”, E.Biagi, Mondadori 1982.
“I feel a great admiration for the negus, a real man without doubts, and the abyssinians were very lovable people, they had never been our enemies, even during the conflict, everywhere we were welcomed with feasts“. (…)
“I remember Haile Selassie as a man full of dignity, I knew him when I returned there: suspicious, smart, very shrewd, surely a head fitting for his country, that never accepted our offers. As you know, we wanted to give him a huge appanage, to make him king of Rhodes or one island in the Aegean Sea, that was surely easier than going to London in exile, poor, for he didn’t own exported money. Instead, he was able to keep his rank, his style, and above all he had this high merit: once returned in Addis Abeba, he started to protect the Italian people, he never felt any rancour.“