The Piazza Fontana bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred on 12 December 1969 when a bomb exploded at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana in Milan, Italy, killing 17 people and wounding 88. The same afternoon, another bomb exploded in a bank in Rome, and another was found unexploded in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The attack was carried out by the far-right, neo-fascist paramilitary terrorist group Ordine Nuovo and possibly certain undetermined collaborators.
Adriano Sofri is an Italian former far-left terrorist, a journalist and a writer. He was convicted for ordering the assassination of Milan Police officer Luigi Calabresi in 1972. This was one of the most important murders during the historical period of social turmoil and political violence in Italy known as the "Years of Lead". Spanning from the late 1960s until the late 1980s, they were marked by a wave of both far-left and far-right incidents of political terrorism.
Giuseppe "Pino" Pinelli was an Italian railroad worker and anarchist, who died while being detained by the Polizia di Stato in 1969. Pinelli was a member of the Milan-based anarchist association named Ponte della Ghisolfa. He was also the secretary of the Italian branch of the Anarchist Black Cross. His death, believed by many to have been caused by members of the police, inspired Nobel Prize laureate Dario Fo to write his famous play titled Accidental Death of an Anarchist.
Potere Operaio was a radical left-wing Italian political group, active between 1967 and 1973. It should not be confused with "Potere Operaio Pisano" which was one of the components of a competing revolutionary group, Lotta Continua. Among the group's leaders were Antonio ('Toni') Negri, Nanni Balestrini, Franco Piperno, Oreste Scalzone and Valerio Morucci, who led its clandestine armed wing. It was part of the "workerist" movement (operaismo), leading to the later development of the Autonomist movement.
L'Espresso is an Italian progressive weekly news magazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies; the other is the conservative magazine Panorama. Since 2022, it has been published by BFC Media.
Vittorio Valletta was an Italian industrialist and president of Fiat S.p.A. from 1946 to 1966.
The 1968 Italian general election was held in Italy on 19 May 1968. The Christian Democracy (DC) remained stable around 38% of the votes. They were marked by a victory of the Communist Party (PCI) passing from 25% of 1963 to c. 30% at the Senate, where it presented jointly with the new Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (PSIUP), which included members of Socialist Party (PSI) which disagreed the latter's alliance with DC. PSIUP gained c. 4.5% at the Chamber. The Socialist Party and the Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI) presented together as the Unified PSI–PSDI, but gained c. 15%, far less than the sum of what the two parties had obtained separately in 1963.
In Italy, the phrase Years of Lead refers to a period of social turmoil, political violence and upheaval that lasted from the late 1960s until the late 1980s, marked by a wave of both far-left and far-right incidents of political terrorism and violent clashes.
Giovanni Raboni was an Italian poet, translator and literary critic.
Giorgio Valentino Bocca was an Italian essayist and journalist, also known for his participation in the World War II partisan movement.
Luigi Calabresi was an Italian Polizia di Stato officer in Milan. Responsible for investigating far-left political movements, Calabresi was assassinated in 1972 by members of Lotta Continua, who blamed him for the death of anarchist activist Giuseppe Pinelli in police custody in 1969. The deaths of Pinelli and Calabresi were significant events during the Years of Lead, a period of major political violence and unrest in Italy from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Prima Linea was an Italian Marxist–Leninist terrorist group, active in the country from the late 1970s until the early 1980s.
Enrico "Erri" De Luca is an Italian novelist, translator and poet. He has been recognized by critic Giorgio De Rienzo of Corriere della Sera as "the writer of the decade". He is also known for his opposition to the Lyon-Turin high speed train line, and is being sued for having called for its sabotage. On 19 October 2015, De Luca was cleared of inciting criminal damage. He reacted to the not-guilty verdict declaring that "An injustice has been avoided."
The movement of 1977 was a spontaneous political movement that arose in Italy in 1977. It grew primarily out of the extra-parliamentary left; in form and substance, it was completely unlike previous student movements such as the protests of 1968. In fact, it was characterized by vocal opposition to the party system, unions, and even political movements.
The Red Brigades was a Marxist–Leninist armed organization, which was operating as a far-left guerilla and terrorist group based in Italy. It was responsible for numerous violent incidents during Italy's Years of Lead, including the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro in 1978. A former prime minister of Italy through the Organic centre-left, the murder of Aldo Moro was widely condemned, as was their murder of left-wing trade unionist Guido Rossa in January 1979. Sandro Pertini, the then left-wing president of Italy, said at Rossa's funeral: "It is not the President of the Republic speaking, but comrade Pertini. I knew [the real] red brigades: they fought with me against the fascists, not against democrats. For shame!"
Mondoperaio is an Italian cultural-political journal that is based in Rome, Italy. The magazine has a socialist stance.
Carlo Casalegno was an Italian journalist and writer. He was killed by a group of four terrorists belonging to the Red Brigades; he was the first journalist ever to be killed during the Years of lead.
Marco Boato is an Italian politician.
Giorgio Pietrostefani was a leader of Lotta Continua. In 1988 the pentito Leonardo Marino accused him of ordering the 1972 murder of Luigi Calabresi. Pietrostafani was convicted in 1997, along with Sofri, Ovidio Bompressi, and Marino himself. While free pending an appeal, Pietrostefani fled to France, which refused to extradite him under the Mitterrand doctrine. In 2021 the French government arrested him, along with six other left-wing activists convicted of crimes in Italy. However, in 2023 France's highest court refused to extradite him.
