 As the Allies freed more and more of Italy from the Salò regime, it became apparent that Victor Emmanuel was too tainted by his previous support of Fascism to have any further role.A sign of how unpopular the House of Savoy had become was that on 28 March 1944, when the Italian Communist leader Palmiro Togliatti returned to Italy after a long exile in the Soviet Union, did not press for an immediate proclamation of a republic.Togliatti wanted the monarchy to continue as the best way of winning the Communists support after the war.