Giuseppe Castellano

Giuseppe Castellano (September 12, 1893 – July 31, 1977) was an Italian general who negotiated the Armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces on September 8, 1943. Biography Military career Of Sicilian descent but born in Prato he was the son of a military man. His career in the Army was rapid and brilliant. In the First World War he was Captain of Artillery. In 1941, he was promoted to brigadier general during the Invasion of Yugoslavia, and was at that time, the youngest general in Italy. In 1942 he was called to the Army General Staff and the following year, to the High Command and collaborated as personal aide with General Vittorio Ambrosio. He was a close friend of Benito Mussolini's son-in-law Galeazzo Ciano, who was the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Ciano was involved in ousting Mussolini in July 1943 after the Allied invasion of Sicily. Castellano sided with Ciano and had a prominent role in the events that led up to the fall of the fascist regime. He organised the arrest of Mussolini.