 The mausoleum was reported to cost Euro 127,000, paid for by taxpayers from regional funds.The town’s mayor, Ercole Viri, donated the bust from his own collection and said he hoped the sight would be as “famous and as popular as Predappio” – the burial place of Mussolini which has become a shrine for neo-Fascists.He later defended the council’s decision by stating that “Graziano was not a war criminal”

However, demonstrations against the memorial were quickly organised.