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Acca Larentia killings

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Franco Bigonzetti
Born(1958-03-05)5 March 1958
Rome, Italy
Died7 January 1978(1978-01-07) (aged 19)
Rome, Italy
Cause of deathBallistic trauma
OccupationItalian Social Movement (MSI) member
Known forVictim of unsolved murder
Francesco Ciavatta
Born(1959-09-11)11 September 1959
Montagano, Italy
Died7 January 1978(1978-01-07) (aged 18)
Rome, Italy
Cause of deathBallistic trauma
OccupationMSI member
Known forVictim of unsolved murder

The Acca Larentia killings, also known in Italy as the Acca Larentia massacre (Italian: strage di Acca Larenzia), were a double homicide that occurred in Rome on 7 January 1978.[1][2][3] The attack was claimed by the self-described Nuclei Armati per il Contropotere Territoriale [it] (Armed Nuclei for Territorial Counterpower). Members of militant far-left groups were charged but acquitted, and the culprits were never identified.[4]

Five teenagers of the Youth Front, the youth wing of the Italian Social Movement, a far-right and neo-fascist party, were ambushed while leaving the local party headquarters, and two of the teens (aged 18 and 19) were killed. The killings caused riots that same day, in which another MSI sympathiser was killed in clashes with police.[5] Commemorations for the Acca Larentia killings take place each year and are controversial. As of 2024, opposition parties said such displays of pro-fascist sentiment were outlawed and demanded an investigation.[6]

Events

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Five members of the MSI were fired upon with automatic weapons by a group of five or six assailants while they were leaving the local party headquarters in via Acca Larenzia to distribute pamphlets. Franco Bigonzetti and Francesco Ciavatta were killed, while Vincenzo Segneri, although wounded, managed to return to the party headquarters with Maurizio Lupini and Giuseppe D'Audino, both of whom were unharmed.[7]

Riots broke out later on the same day between the police and a crowd of MSI activists that had gathered at the site. Nineteen-year-old Stefano Recchioni was fatally injured by a stray bullet and several others, including Youth Front national secretary Gianfranco Fini, were wounded by tear gas canisters. Carabinieri officer Edoardo Sivori was suspected of killing Recchioni but was never charged.[8]

Aftermath

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The killings further polarised Italian politics during the Years of Lead and led to a fracture within the neo-fascist movement, with more radical militants blaming the party leadership for its failure to denounce the police for Recchioni's death and choosing to join emerging extremist groups like the far-right Armed Revolutionary Nuclei. The attack was claimed by the self-described Armed Nuclei for Territorial Counterpower.[9] Five members of far-left group Lotta Continua were charged with the murders in 1987 but subsequently acquitted of all charges. A Škorpion submachine gun, proven by ballistics to have been used in the attack, was found in 1988 in a Red Brigades safehouse in Milan.[10]

Singer and songwriter Fabrizio Marzi dedicated the song Giovinezza (Youth) to Recchioni in 1979. Riots broke out during commemorations of the victims on 10 January 1979, with seventeen-year-old Alberto Giaquinto being fatally injured by police officer Alessio Speranza, who was convicted after four trials and ten years of negligent excess of self-defence.[11] In 2013, then-mayor of Rome and former MSI member Gianni Alemanno named a street of the city after the three victims.[12] In 2014, he further commemorated the victims and criticised Ignazio Marino, the-then mayor of the city, for not doing the same.[13]

In January 2024, hundreds of neo-fascists gathered at the MSI's former headquarters to commemorate the Acca Larentia killings.[14][15][16] They did fascist salutes and shouted: "Camerati, present!"[17] They also did a typical rallying cry at neo-fascist events: "For all fallen comrades!"[18] This prompted criticism from the opposition and outrage.[6][19] Marco Vizzardelli, a theatre-goer who was quickly identified by DIGOS for shouting "Long live anti-fascist Italy!" at La Scala,[20] said that he was "outraged", adding: "Nobody stopped them, double standards."[21] Fabio Rampelli of Brothers of Italy (FdI), an MSI-heir party that also commemorates the victims, said that these were loose cannons and that FdI had nothing to do with it.[22] Opposition leaders, such as Elly Schlein, asked Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy and FdI member, to apply the ban of neo-fascist groups that is part of the Italian Penal code which far-right groups are able to circumvent by using a different name and proclaiming themselves to be new political forces.[23] Others also urged Meloni and Lazio president Francesco Rocca to distance themselves.[24]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Cazzullo, Aldo (18 January 2006). "La strage dimenticata degli anni di piombo". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). ISSN 2499-0485. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  2. ^ Telese, Luca (7 January 2008). "Strage di Acca Larentia Si riapre la guerra civile". Il Giornale (in Italian). ISSN 1124-8831. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  3. ^ Piccirilli, Piccirilli (8 January 2009). "Nel 1978 l'assassinio dei tre militanti del Msi". Il Tempo (in Italian). ISSN 1721-4084. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  4. ^ Goff Klein, Jacob (10 January 2018). "5,000 Neo-Nazis Rally in Rome to Mark Acca Larentia Killings". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  5. ^ "DIGOS to send report to prosecutors on Acca Larentia case" (in Italian). ANSA. 8 January 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Fascist rally in Rome sparks Italian opposition outrage". Reuters. 8 January 2024. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  7. ^ Ferraresi, Franco (1996). Threats to Democracy: The Radical Right in Italy after the War. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-691-04499-6.
  8. ^ Jones, Tobias (22 February 2018). "The Fascist Movement that has Brought Musollini back to the Mainstream". The Guardian. ISSN 1756-3224. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  9. ^ "Acca Larentia: storia, significato, la strage, cosa è successo e origine del nome (dalla dea romana)". Il Messaggero (in Italian). 8 January 2024. ISSN 2499-4081. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  10. ^ "La strage di Acca Larentia e il mistero della mitraglietta Skorpion". Spazio70 (in Italian). 2 May 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  11. ^ "Strage di Acca Larentia, cosa accadde a Roma il 7 gennaio del 1978". Sky TG24 (in Italian). 8 January 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  12. ^ "Saluti romani e croci celtiche ad Acca Larentia. È polemica sul raduno a 46 anni dalla strage". RomaToday (in Italian). 7 January 2024. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  13. ^ "Strage di Acca Larentia, stasera 'il presente'. Alemanno polemico con Marino". RomaToday (in Italian). 7 January 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  14. ^ "Acca Larentia, saluto romano e 'presente': così i militanti di estrema destra ricordano la strage. Rocca: 'Non ci sono morti di serie B'". La Repubblica (in Italian). 7 January 2024. ISSN 2499-0817. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  15. ^ "Acca Larenzia, polemiche sui saluti romani. Il video dell'adunata nera, Schlein: «Interrogazione. Meloni non ha niente da dire?». M5s presenterà esposto in Procura". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 8 January 2024. ISSN 2499-0485. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  16. ^ Hume, Tim (8 January 2024). "Chilling Video Shows Hundreds of Far-Right Activists Giving Fascist Salute". Vice. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  17. ^ "Acca Larentia, in centinaia schierati per il 'presente' e il saluto romano ai 'camerati caduti' – Le immagini impressionanti dall'alto (Video)". Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). 8 January 2024. ISSN 2037-089X. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  18. ^ Berizzi, Paolo (8 January 2024). "Acca Larentia, centinaia di saluti romani per commemorare la strage davanti all'ex sede del Msi". La Repubblica (in Italian). ISSN 2499-0817. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  19. ^ Caravelli, Chiara (8 January 2024). "Saluti romani in via Acca Larentia: se l'antifascismo divide l'Italia è un problema per tutti". Luce (in Italian). Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  20. ^ Berizzi, Paolo (8 January 2024). "Saluti fascisti, la vergogna di Acca Larentia. Riuscite a immaginare questa scena oggi a Berlino? E perché nessuno è intervenuto?". La Repubblica (in Italian). ISSN 2499-0817. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  21. ^ Di Sauro, Alessio (8 January 2024). "Marco Vizzardelli, il loggionista della Scala identificato dalla digos: 'I saluti fascisti di Acca Larentia? Sono indignato. Nessuno li ha fermati, due pesi e due misure'". La Repubblica (in Italian). ISSN 2499-0817. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  22. ^ "Acca Larentia, centinaia di saluti romani: è il 2024 ma sembra Roma nel 1924. Rampelli: 'Cani sciolti, FdI non c'entra'. Esposto M5S". La Repubblica (in Italian). 8 January 2024. ISSN 2499-0817. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  23. ^ Giuffrida, Angela (8 January 2024). "Meloni urged to ban neofascist groups after crowds filmed saluting in Rome". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  24. ^ "Roman greetings on the anniversary of the Acca Larentia massacre, Schlein: «It seems like 1924». Calenda: «Unacceptable shame»". L'Unione Sarda English. 8 January 2024. ISSN 1128-6857. Retrieved 8 January 2024.

Bibliography

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  • Colombo, Andrea (2007). Storia nera. Bologna. La verità di Francesca Mambro e Valerio Fioravanti (in Italian). Milan: Cairo editore. ISBN 978-88-6052-091-3.
  • Morelli, Massimiliano (2008). Acca Larentia. Asfalto nero sangue (in Italian). Turin: Bradipolibri editore. ISBN 978-88-88329-84-0.
  • Telese, Luca (2006). Cuori neri. Dal rogo di Primavalle alla morte di Ramelli (in Italian). Milan: Solferino. ISBN 88-200-3615-0.
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  • Rhythm 'n Blood at Vimeo – a documentary film by Kaspar Hauser released in 2008 that is based on the killings and the following raid on Radio Città Futura [it], a far-left radio station based in Rome
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