![Trastevere - Regina Coeli alla Lungara 1040154](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Trastevere_-_Regina_Coeli_alla_Lungara_1040154.JPG)
Regina Coeli (; it, Carcere di Regina Coeli ) is the best known
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...
in the city of
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. Previously a Catholic convent (hence the name), it was built in 1654 in the
rione
A (; plural: ) is a neighbourhood in several Italian cities. A is a territorial subdivision. The larger administrative subdivisions in Rome are the , with the being used only in the historic centre. The word derives from the Latin , the 14 su ...
of
Trastevere. It started to serve as a prison in 1881.
The construction was started by
Pope Urban VIII in 1642, but his death stopped the works and the complex remained unfinished. Between 1810 and 1814 the former Catholic convent was confiscated by Napoleonic French forces, who suppressed all religious orders in territories under French control during the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
. While the complex was returned to
Carmelite nuns shortly afterwards, they abandoned the convent in 1873. The newly established
Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and f ...
confiscated the complex and decided to turn it into a prison in 1881. The refurbishing was carried out by Carlo Morgini and was completed only in 1900. A new complex housing a prison for women, dubbed "
Le Mantellate" was erected nearby on a place also formerly occupied by a Catholic convent. Regina Coeli replaced the
Carceri Nuove as Rome's primary jail.
While serving as a prison and jail, since 1902 the Regina Coeli also served as a
police academy
A police academy, also known as a law enforcement training center, police college, or police university, is a training school for police cadets, designed to prepare them for the law enforcement agency they will be joining upon graduation, or othe ...
and one of the first schools in Italy to focus on
forensics and
criminal anthropology
Anthropological criminology (sometimes referred to as criminal anthropology, literally a combination of the study of the human species and the study of criminals) is a field of offender profiling, based on perceived links between the nature of a ...
. During the times of
Fascist Italy the prison served for detention of
political prisoner
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...
s. In 1943, the Nazis led by
Erich Priebke
Erich Priebke (29 July 1913 – 11 October 2013) was a German mid-level SS commander in the SS police force (SiPo) of Nazi Germany. In 1996, he was convicted of war crimes in Italy, for commanding the unit which was responsible for the Ar ...
rounded up and imprisoned over 1,000
Roman Jews
The history of the Jews in the Roman Empire ( la, Iudaeorum Romanum) traces the interaction of Jews and Romans during the period of the Roman Empire (27 BCE – CE 476). A Jewish diaspora had migrated to Rome and to the territories of Roman Eu ...
in the Regina Coeli prison. Priebke also perpetrated the
Ardeatine Massacre
The Ardeatine massacre, or Fosse Ardeatine massacre ( it, Eccidio delle Fosse Ardeatine), was a mass killing of 335 civilians and political prisoners carried out in Rome on 24 March 1944 by German occupation troops during the Second World War ...
, many of the prisoners at Via Tasso and Regina Coeli prison who happened to be available at the time were massacred by the Nazis at the Fosse Ardeatine to fill the numerical quota set as retaliation for a partisan attack that killed 33 German SS policemen.
Pankratius Pfeiffer, Superior General of the
Salvatorians and "the Angel of Rome", is said to have visited the prisons of Regina Coeli and Via Tasso everyday during the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1943 and 1944, returning with a freed prisoner, since he acted as an intermediary between Pope Pius XII and the German authorities. In this capacity, he rescued hundreds of Jews and others in Rome from execution by the Nazis. He also persuaded the Nazis to spare several Italian cities from destruction during their retreat from Italy.
On December 26, 1958,
Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...
visited the prison, washing the feet of several prisoners. This act was repeated by
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...
in 1964,
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
in 2000, and
Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
in 2018.
In 1979, the prison was bombed by the
Movimento Rivoluzionario Popolare, a neo-fascist organisation.
During the theft of the
Santo Bambino of Aracoeli
The Santo Bambino of Aracœli ("Holy Child of Aracœli"), sometimes known as the Bambino Gesù di Aracœli ("Child Jesus of Aracœli") is a 15th-century Roman Catholic devotional replicated wooden image enshrined in the titular Basilica of Santa M ...
on 1 February 1994, inmates at the Regina Coeli prison wrote a petition to their anonymous "colleagues", asking for its return.
In modern times the prison complex can house up to 900 detainees.
Notable prisoners
*Pre-Fascist Italy
**
Amerigo Dumini, American-born Italian fascist hitman who led the group responsible for the 1924 assassination of Unitary Socialist Party leader
Giacomo Matteotti
Giacomo Matteotti (; 22 May 1885 – 10 June 1924) was an Italian socialist politician. On 30 May 1924, he openly spoke in the Italian Parliament alleging the Fascists committed fraud in the recently held elections, and denounced the violence ...
, which led to the
Aventine Secession (20th century). He was arrested on July 12th, 1924, at the Roma Termini railway station, as he was preparing to leave for the north of Italy and was brought to the Regina Coeli prison. He was sentenced to a five-year prison sentence, of which he only served eleven months, benefiting from an amnesty ordered by Mussolini.
*Under Fascist Italy and German occupation
**
Massimo Mila
Massimo Mila (14 August 1910 – 26 December 1988) was an Italian musicologist, music critic, intellectual and anti-fascist.
Biography
He studied at the Liceo classico Massimo d'Azeglio in Turin, where he was a pupil of Augusto Monti and wher ...
, Italian musicologist, music critic, intellectual and anti-fascist. He was imprisoned for the first time in 1929 for anti-fascist activities. He joined the Turin group of "Justice and Freedom" (''
Giustizia e Libertà
Giustizia e Libertà (; en, Justice and Freedom) was an Italian anti-fascist resistance movement, active from 1929 to 1945.James D. Wilkinson (1981). ''The Intellectual Resistance Movement in Europe''. Harvard University Press. p. 224. The mov ...
'') and, on 15 May 1935, following a report by the writer
Dino Segre Pitigrilli was the pseudonym of Dino Segre, (9 May 1893 - 8 May 1975), an Italian writer who made his living as a journalist and novelist. His most noted novel was ''Cocaina'' (Cocaine) (1921), published under his pseudonym and placed on the list o ...
-alias Pitigrilli- he was arrested for the second time together with Einaudi, Foa, Ginzburg, Antonicelli, Bobbio, Pavese, Carlo Levi and Luigi Salvatorelli. He was sentenced by the ''Tribunale Speciale'' to seven years imprisonment
with inter alia Riccardo Bauer and Ernesto Rossi, which he spent in the prison of Regina Coeli in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. In a moment of despair he wrote a letter addressed to Mussolini: "Never again will I allow myself to do or express anything that can be, directly or indirectly, in any case hostile, or contrary to, or harmful to the Regime".
**
Giovanni Baldelli, Italian anarchist theorist. He was arrested in March 1933 for anti-fascist activities and held at Regina Coeli, Rome until 11 December 1933. He was put at the disposal of the Special Tribunal and released after nine months for insufficient evidence. During this period of incarceration he was under the "Tribunale Speciale" for five months.
**
Curzio Malaparte
Curzio Malaparte (; 9 June 1898 – 19 July 1957), born Kurt Erich Suckert, was an Italian writer, filmmaker, war correspondent and diplomat. Malaparte is best known outside Italy due to his works ''Kaputt'' (1944) and ''La pelle'' (1949). The f ...
, Italian writer, filmmaker, war correspondent and diplomat. In the 1920s, Malaparte was one of the intellectuals who supported the rise of Italian fascism and Benito Mussolini. However, he was stripped of his National Fascist Party membership and sent to internal exile from 1933 to 1938 on the island of Lipari for his independent streak. He was freed on the personal intervention of Mussolini's son-in-law and heir apparent
Galeazzo Ciano
Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari ( , ; 18 March 1903 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian diplomat and politician who served as Foreign Minister in the government of his father-in-law, Benito Mussolini, from 1936 until 1 ...
, but Mussolini's regime arrested Malaparte again in 1938, 1939, 1941, and 1943, imprisoning him in the Regina Coeli.
**
Guido Gonella
Guido Gonella (18 September 1905 – 19 August 1982) was an Italian politician from the Christian Democracy, former Minister of Public Education and Minister of Justice.
Biography Academic career
Gonella graduated in Philosophy at the Catho ...
, Italian politician. On 3 September 1939, a few days after the beginning of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Gonella was arrested by the
fascists and brought to Regina Coeli, being freed only after the intervention of
Pope Pius XII.
Though he returned to
L'Osservatore Romano
''L'Osservatore Romano'' (, 'The Roman Observer') is the daily newspaper of Vatican City State which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Catholic Church and the world. It is owned by the Holy See but is not ...
, he was forbidden to teach in
Universities
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...
.
**
Luigi Ugolini, Italian writer. On 27 April 1940 Ugolini was arrested by the Fascist police for his essays against the regime, sentenced to 2 years. He wrote a book, "Regina coeli – dieci mesi di carcere fascista", in 1970 on his prison experience.
**
Roberto Assagioli
Roberto Assagioli (27 February 1888 – 23 August 1974) was an Italian psychiatrist and pioneer in the fields of humanistic and transpersonal psychology. Assagioli founded the psychological movement known as psychosynthesis, which is still being de ...
, Italian psychiatrist and pioneer in the fields of humanistic and transpersonal psychology. Founder of the psychological movement known as
psychosynthesis
Psychosynthesis is an approach to psychology that expands the boundaries of the field by identifying a deeper center of identity, which is the postulate of the Self. It considers each individual unique in terms of purpose in life, and places value ...
. In 1940, Assagioli was arrested and imprisoned by Benito Mussolini’s Fascist government, having been accused of "praying for peace and inviting others to join him along with other international crimes." He was placed in a solitary cell in Regina Coeli prison for 27 nights, until he was released and returned to his family.
**
Antonio Gramsci, Italian Marxist philosopher, journalist, linguist, writer, and politician. On 9 November 1926, the Fascist government enacted a new wave of emergency laws, taking as a pretext an alleged attempt on Mussolini's life that had occurred several days earlier. The fascist police arrested Gramsci, despite his
parliamentary immunity, and brought him to Regina Coeli. At his trial, Gramsci's prosecutor stated, "For twenty years we must stop this brain from functioning". He received an immediate sentence of five years in confinement on the island of
Ustica
Ustica (; scn, Ùstica) is a small Italian island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is about across and is situated north of Capo Gallo, Sicily. Roughly 1,300 people live in the ''comune'' (municipality) of the same name. There is a regular fer ...
and the following year he received a sentence of 20 years' imprisonment in
Turi, near
Bari. Gramsci died on 27 April 1937, at the age of 46.
**
Cipriano Facchinetti
Cipriano Facchinetti (13 January 1889 – 18 February 1952) was an Italian politician.
He was a deputy, senator, minister, journalist, president of ANSA and president of Malpensa airport. He dedicated his activity to journalism, holding the posi ...
, Italian politician, deputy, senator, minister, journalist, president of
ANSA
Ansa (Latin for "handle") or ANSA may refer to:
Organizations
* Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata, Italian news agency
** Ansa Mediterranean or ANSAmed, section of the above
* Applied Neuroscience Society of Australasia
* Association of Norw ...
and president of
Malpensa airport
Milan Malpensa Airport is the largest international airport in northern Italy, serving Lombardy, Piedmont and Liguria, as well as the Swiss Canton of Ticino. The airport is northwest of Milan, next to the Ticino river dividing Lombardy and Pie ...
. In 1943, being in Marseille, he was arrested by the Germans and taken to Rome to the Regina Coeli prison, until July 25th.
**
Leone Ginzburg
Leone Ginzburg (, , ; 4 April 1909 – 5 February 1944) was an Italian editor, writer, journalist and teacher, as well as an important anti-fascist political activist and a hero of the resistance movement. He was the husband of the renowned auth ...
, Italian editor, writer, journalist and teacher, as well as an important anti-fascist political activist and a hero of the resistance movement. Imprisoned on 20 November 1943, taken to the German section of the prison and subjected to severe torture. Died at Regina Coeli on 5 February 1944 at 34 years age.
**
Mario Pannunzio
Mario Pannunzio (5 March 1910 – 10 February 1968) was an Italian journalist and politician. As a journalist he was the director in charge of the daily newspaper Risorgimento Liberale (''Liberal reawakening'') in the 1940s and of the weekly p ...
, Italian journalist and politician. During December 1943 Pannunzio was arrested by Nazis while he was in the newspaper's print works: he spent several months in Regina Coeli.
**
Giuseppe Garibaldi II, Italian soldier, patriot and revolutionary, grandson of
Giuseppe Garibaldi. Opposed Mussolini's Fascist Party, left for the United States, imprisoned in 1940 by German authorities when he returned to Italy. Retired to private life after the war.
**
Petro Marko
Petro Marko (November 25, 1913 – December 27, 1991) was an Albanian writer. His best-known novel is titled '' Hasta La Vista'' and recounts his experiences as a volunteer of the Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War. Petro Marko is ...
, Albanian writer. In 1940 after being repatriated from
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
to Albania he was arrested by the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
army, imprisoned in
Bari, then and sent along with 600 other prisoners to
Ustica
Ustica (; scn, Ùstica) is a small Italian island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is about across and is situated north of Capo Gallo, Sicily. Roughly 1,300 people live in the ''comune'' (municipality) of the same name. There is a regular fer ...
, an island of the
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...
from 1941 to 1943, finishing with Regina Coeli prison near
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
in 1944.
**
Giuseppe Saragat and
Sandro Pertini
Alessandro "Sandro" Pertini (; 25 September 1896 – 24 February 1990) was an Italian socialist politician who served as the president of Italy from 1978 to 1985.
Early life
Born in Stella ( Province of Savona) as the son of a wealthy landow ...
, the fifth and seventh presidents of Italy respectively, unknown when they were imprisoned at Regina Coeli. Both freed in a raid by partisans led by
Massimo Severo Giannini.
**
Tigrino Sabatini, communist and a leader of the Italian Resistance. Arrested on 23 January 1944, Sabatini was imprisoned at the Via Tasso SS prison and subsequently Regina Coeli. Twice put on trial, he was sentenced to death on 14 April 1944 and executed on 3 May, less than five weeks before the Anglo-Americans liberated Rome.
**
Piero Terracina, Italian Jewish manager,
Holocaust survivor
Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...
of the
extermination camp
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
at
Auschwitz. After escaping the catch of October 16, 1943, which took place throughout
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, he was arrested on April 7, 1944, in Rome, following a report from an informer, together with the whole family: the parents, his sister Anna, the brothers Cesare and Leo , uncle Amedeo, grandfather Leone David. All Italians, before being Jews, no one objected in 1944, in order not to fall victim to the
fascist regime
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
and suffer the same deportation to the extermination camps reserved for opponents and Jews. The whole Terracina family was detained for a few days in the
Regina Coeli prison in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, and after a brief stay in the
Fossoli camp, on 17 May
1944
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 2 – WWII:
** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...
, was then sent to deportation to Auschwitz.
**
Roberto Lucifero d'Aprigliano, lawyer and antifascist partisan during the war, politician and journalist post-war, briefly (and divisively) served as national secretary of the
Italian Liberal Party
The Italian Liberal Party ( it, Partito Liberale Italiano, PLI) was a liberal and conservative political party in Italy.
The PLI, which is the heir of the liberal currents of both the Historical Right and the Historical Left, was a minor part ...
in 1947/48. After the
Badoglio Proclamation The Badoglio Proclamation was a speech read on Ente Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche (EIAR) at 19:42 on 8 September 1943 by Marshal Pietro Badoglio, Italian head of government, announcing that the Armistice of Cassibile between Italy and the ...
of 8 September 1943, Roberto Lucifero d'Aprigliano participated in the
Roman resistance against the city's occupation by
German forces, as a member of an underground monarchist group. In April 1944 he was captured by
German Nazi paramilitaries and imprisoned in the Regina Coeli, from where he was released on 4 June 1944 as allied forces
liberated Rome from the German occupation.
**
Luigi Pintor (politician)
Luigi Pintor (18 September 1925 – 17 May 2003) was an Italian left-wing politician and journalist.
Biography
After spending his childhood in Cagliari and acquiring the gymnasium license, at the outbreak of World War II Pintor left Sardinia t ...
, Italian left-wing politician and journalist. On 14 May 1944, Pintor was arrested by the
fascists, tortured and imprisoned at Regina Coeli, waiting for a
death sentence
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...
; luckily, Pintor was freed one month later during the Liberation of
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
.
*Post-WWII
**
Guido Leto
Guido Leto ( Palermo, 1895 – 1956) was an Italian police official, head of the OVRA, the secret police of the Fascist regime, from 1938 to 1945. Throughout his career as a policeman he served under the Kingdom of Italy, the Italian Social R ...
, Italian police official, head of the
OVRA
The OVRA, whose most probable name was Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism ( it, Organizzazione per la Vigilanza e la Repressione dell'Antifascismo), was the secret police of the Kingdom of Italy, founded in 1927 under the ...
, the secret police of the Fascist regime, from 1938 to 1945. Imprisoned in Regina Coeli and subjected to an "epuration" commission, acquitted on 12 April 1946 by the Court of Appeal from the charges brought against him.
**
Piero Piccioni
Piero Piccioni (; December 6, 1921 – July 23, 2004) was an Italian film score composer and lawyer.
A pianist, organist, conductor, composer, he was also the prolific author of more than 300 film soundtracks. He played for the first time on ...
, Italian film score composer and lawyer, son of
Attilio Piccioni
Attilio Piccioni (14 July 1892 – 10 March 1976) was an Italian politician. He had been a prominent member of the Christian Democrats.
Biography
Piccioni was born on 14 July 1892 in Poggio Bustone (Province of Rieti, Umbria) and graduate ...
. Suspect in the case of
Wilma Montesi, a Roman girl found dead on the beach of
Torvaianica
Torvaianica or Torvajanica is a ''frazione'' of the comune of Pomezia, in the Metropolitan City of Rome, central Italy. Counting some 12,700 inhabitants, it extends for some on central Lazio's littoral.
Overview
According to Vergil's ''Aeneid'' ...
. Attilio was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in the brief first Fanfani government (January-February 1954), after which he was summoned again by President Einaudi to succeed Fanfani as Prime Minister. Piccioni, however, did not want to take on this responsibility due to his son's scandal. Because of this scandal, on 19 September Piccioni resigned as Minister of Foreign Affairs and from all his official offices. Two days later, his son Piero was arrested on charges of manslaughter and drug use and then imprisoned in the Regina Coeli prison. Piero obtained provisional freedom after three months in preventive detention and was finally cleared of all charges.
**
Giorgio Pisanò, Italian journalist, essayist and neo-fascist politician. His protest against socialist leader Mancini culminated in being accused by Dino De Laurentiis for extortion in 1971 and his incarceration in Regina Coeli, where he spent 114 days before being acquitted of all charges by the Court of Rome on July 14 and released.
**
Claudio Camaso
Claudio Camaso (born Claudio Volonté; 3 February 1939 – 16 September 1977) was an Italian actor, noted as much for his troubled, violent life as for his performances. He was the younger brother of Gian Maria Volonté.
Early life and career
C ...
, Italian actor, noted as much for his troubled, violent life and neo-fascist sympathies as for his performances. On 16 September 1977, while in police custody, Camaso committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell in Regina Coeli prison.
**
Lillo Venezia, Italian journalist. Lillo Venezia was the second Italian journalist to be imprisoned after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
(a few days in Regina Coeli) after
Giovannino Guareschi
Giovannino Oliviero Giuseppe Guareschi (; 1 May 1908 – 22 July 1968) was an Italian journalist, cartoonist and humorist whose best known creation is the priest Don Camillo.
Life and career
Giovannino Guareschi was born into a middle-class famil ...
, following a complaint for insulting religion and a foreign head of state (the
Pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
). Some copies of the newspaper were burned in the square by the
parish priest
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...
of
Spilimbergo
Spilimbergo (german: Spengenberg; fur, Spilimberc or ) is a ''comune'' with a population of 11,961, located in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, in northern Italy, on the right side of the Tagliamento river. The town is notable as the home of the ...
, who judged it "''worthy of falling in the magma of our Italic volcanoes, a congenial seat for similar obsessive publications''".
**
Giuseppe Ciarrapico, Italian entrepreneur, publisher and politician. President of the football club
AS Roma
' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its ...
from 1991 and 1993, and a senator of Italy for
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...
's
The People of Freedom party in 2008-2012. Ciarrapico was convicted and imprisoned several times due to his involvement in financial scandals. The
Samif-Italsanità healthcare scandal, led to his imprisonment at Regina Coeli on 21 March 1993.
**
Stefano Cucchi, a young building surveyor, imprisoned on 15 October 2009 after being found in possession of some packs of hashish, 2 grams of cocaine and a pill of a medicine for epilepsy. Died on 22 October due to police brutality.
On My Skin (2018 film) depicts the events surrounding his death.
**
Joseph J. Henn, a Salvadoran and former Catholic priest who fled to Italy, was held in the prison in 2019 before he was extradited to the United States, where he faces sex abuse charges in Arizona.
/ref>
References
Bibliography
* Olga Touloumi. The Prison of Regina Coeli: A Laboratory of Identity in the Post-Risorgimento Italy. MIT Thesis, 200
The prison of Regina Coeli : a laboratory of identity in the Post-Risorgimento Italy
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Prisons in Italy
Buildings and structures in Rome
1654 establishments in the Papal States
Rome R. XIII Trastevere