La lunga notte - La caduta del Duce - Season 1

Rome, July 1943. Captain Furio Niccolai, suspected of anti-fascist activity, is arrested and tortured by agents of the OVRA, the secret police led by Ugo Ruggeri. The President of the Chamber of Fasci Dino Grandi immediately works with the Duce to have Niccolai freed, who had saved his life on the Carso and who is recognized as a war hero. The captain is released at the behest of Mussolini and, upon returning home, tells Grandi that he was arrested because they wanted to know from him the names of those who were dissatisfied with the Duce in the army. One evening Furio Niccolai, while returning home, was attacked by OVRA agents and thrown into the stairwell, dying instantly. Grandi is worried about the situation and King Vittorio Emanuele III di Savoy suggests him to reunite the Grand Council of Fascism. Grandi takes courage and talks about it with the former President of the Senate Luigi Federzoni, not knowing that he is being monitored by Ruggeri.

July 9th. The Americans are landing in Sicily and Federzoni wakes Grandi in the middle of the night to tell him the news. The President of the Chamber therefore wants to speed up and tries in vain to also involve Carlo Scorza, the secretary of the Fascist Party. Princess Maria José of Belgium also takes personal initiative and meets Monsignor Montini to look for a way out and to carve out a leading role for her husband Umberto II of Savoy in the peace operation. The Duce, furious at the landing, orders that all the hierarchs hold rallies in their cities to reawaken national pride but Grandi refuses. Mussolini summons all the hierarchs to Palazzo Venezia, discovering that they agree in asking for the convocation of the Grand Council of Fascism, and orders Ruggeri to arrest Grandi.

Ruggeri and the OVRA agents are stopped as they are about to arrest Grandi in the Chamber because the Duce has changed his mind and wants to understand who else thinks like him. The Americans are getting closer to Rome and Mussolini seems to have lost control of the situation. Grandi, after trying to encourage the King, goes to the Southern Armed Forces Command to convince Umberto II to remove Mussolini by using the army but the Prince quickly liquidates him. Edda Mussolini tries to convince her father of Clara Petacci's bad intentions and of the cheating carried out by her brother Marcello but the Duce does not want to give up his lover and puts her in line.

Feltre, 19 July. The harsh discussion between Mussolini and Hitler is interrupted by Giuseppe Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo who announces that Rome has just been bombed and therefore the Duce immediately returns to the capital also ordering that Clara Petacci be banished from Palazzo Venezia. Meanwhile Grandi tries to leverage Maria Josè to help him convince Umberto II to remove the Duce but the princess does not want to support him because he is a fascist. Meanwhile, Mussolini calls the Grand Council because he wants to face the traitors and Grandi is surprised.

Luigi Federzoni and Giuseppe Bottai seem to have convinced Galeazzo Ciano to take their side in view of the Grand Council but Grandi does not trust the Duce's son-in-law who, after an argument, leaves his office. Umberto II discovers that his wife is carrying out peace negotiations on her behalf and scolds her harshly. The Prince, with the Anglo-Americans advancing, then tries to convince his father to oust Mussolini but the King says his hands are tied fearing that the Duce has convened the Grand Council to change the dynastic line of the Savoy. Italo Niccolai, Furio's son, is seen in the company of Beatrice Grandi, Dino's niece. The hierarch forbids his niece from seeing the boy because she has joined the anti-fascists but the young woman is too in love with her and the two continue to see each other in secret. Grandi is approached by Ingrid Eriksson, a Swedish journalist sent by Winston Churchill to test the waters for his possible position as prime minister in Mussolini's place. Grandi and Ciano then make an agreement: for the post-Mussolini period they will act as prime minister and party secretary. Marcello Petacci finds out about it from a man from Ciano and her sister, now unable to notify the Duce directly, sends the news to Edda through Colonel Eugen Dollmann; shortly afterwards Mussolini's daughter notices her husband talking to Grandi but he downplays the matter. Grandi approaches Italo, telling him not to associate with his niece anymore but the boy does not seem to fear him and also challenges him on a political level. Clara Petacci, after being harshly scolded by her mother for having lost Mussolini, attempts to commit suicide.

Petacci ingested barbiturates but was saved; the Duce reads her letter in which she reported Ciano's betrayal and he is therefore kept under surveillance. Galeazzo reassures his wife by saying that she will not betray her father and that he is playing a double game to deliver the traitors to the Duce so as to make a good impression on him. Vittorio Ambrosio, Chief of Staff of the Italian Army, reports to the King the harsh discussion that took place between Hitler and Mussolini in Feltre and proposes to stop the Duce but Savoy is not at all convinced and asks Pietro Badoglio for advice who tells him that Mussolini's successor must be one of his most loyal followers. The King receives the Duce and tells him that he will continue to support him. Ciano meets Mario Josè and suggests her not to attempt any risky moves. On the eve of the Grand Council, Grandi is received by Mussolini and advises him to pass the buck but the Duce becomes furious and shouts at him that defeatists like him will be punished. Maria José is intercepted while she is talking on the phone with the ambassador to Portugal, Umberto Capodilista, and the King is made aware of it. Grandi decides to send her niece to Cremona to distance her from Italo but despite this the two promise each other eternal love.

July 24th. It is the day of the Great Council. Mussolini claims he must resist the attacks. Grandi presents to the participants an agenda for the return of military power to the King. The debate goes on for hours and during a break Mussolini proposes to Grandi to become Foreign Minister in the next government and his future successor but he refuses. In the meantime his wife has been locked in a room by Ruggeri.

The King discovers that his son and daughter-in-law have devised a peace plan with the English without his knowledge and orders their removal from Rome. Petacci shows up at Palazzo Venezia while the meeting is in progress and she leaves him a written message. Party secretary Scorza presents another agenda but Grandi opposes it and gets his to be put to the vote: surprisingly, with 19 votes in favor (including that of Ciano), 8 against and 1 abstention, the motion of the President of the party passes Room. After the defeat, Mussolini prepares revenge against the traitors and meets Claretta again. Approached by an emissary of the King, Grandi denies wanting any role in a future government but opposes the possibility that Badoglio could be the Duce's successor. Once he returns home, Grandi discovers that his wife never left and that she has disappeared.

July 25th. Mussolini downplays the incident and proposes to arrest all the conspirators who, according to him, undermined the stability of the homeland. The Duce reveals that the Council could change the dynastic line and that many hierarchs would not look kindly on Prince Umberto. The King makes him understand that he has lost on every front and that they will discuss a new government together. At the end of the meeting, however, Mussolini was picked up by the Carabinieri with an excuse and then arrested. Grandi shows up at the OVRA and warns Ruggeri against touching the wife of the future Prime Minister; Antonietta is then freed. Shortly afterwards the King chooses Badoglio as the new Prime Minister, the fascist headquarters are stormed and the Petacci family and the Grandi manage to escape just in time while Beatrice, having returned to Rome after a change of heart, is reunited with Italo.