text: On 2 June 1943 he had a private audience with King Victor Emmanuel III where he proposed Mussolini's dismissal, the appointment of a military government, and the denunciation of the alliance with Nazi Germany. The sovereign did not act on this proposal. During the same month Bonomi had other meetings with Maria José, Princess of Piedmont, and the heir apparent, Prince Umberto II, suggesting the appointment of Marshal Pietro Badoglio as prime minister with himself as his deputy, with the goals of ending both the Fascist dictatorship and the alliance with Adolf Hitler. While by this time Victor Emmanuel had become essentially supportive of the same plan, the King preferred a different solution centered on some leaders of the Armed Forces as well as dissenters within the Fascist Party, which meant that Bonomi was not involved in the planning of Mussolini's dismissal and arrest on July 25.
  Fall of Fascism and second term as prime minister
  After the fall of Fascism in July 1943, Bonomi attended a number of anti-fascist meetings which asked the new government led by Badoglio to disband Fascist organizations, release political prisoners, and restore the free press.
  On 9 September, the day after the armistice of Cassibile was announced, six anti-fascist parties agreed to form a National Liberation Committee (CLN), chaired by Bonomi, to lead the Italian resistance movement. The member parties were the Italian Communist Party, the Italian Socialist Party, the Action Party, the Christian Democracy, the Italian Liberal Party, and Bonomi's own Labour Democratic Party. While Rome was under German control Bonomi hid in the area of the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, under the protection of Pope Pius XII.