Mussolini's failings are graphically documented.   Some commentators and historians have, however, refuted the label of buffoon.

Mussolini was anything but a grotesque buffoon. No one gets power while still in his thirties and holds it for 23 years by being that. Until his disastrous declaration of war on Britain and France in June 1940 and swift military humiliation, Mussolini was a major player on the world stage - something no Italian politician had been since the days of the Roman Empire. He invented fascism and a case can be made for saying that fascism, rather than democracy, saved Europe from communism.

- The Spectator , 1997       Full Article

Io son ricco from L'Elisir d'Amore by Donizetti