![Strage di bologna 002](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Strage_di_bologna_002.jpg)
Terrorism in Italy is related to political and subversive
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
activities, carried out by various groups and organizations with different and sometimes conflicting methods, motivations and interests. This article is primarily about late 20th-century and early 21st-century terrorism.
Since the late 1960s, terrorism became a more serious issue in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. In the early part of this period, it was known as "opposed
extremism
Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied shar ...
s", later the media renamed this period as the "
Years of Lead," inspired by ''
Die bleierne Zeit'', or ''Anni di piombo'', a film by German director
Margarethe von Trotta
Margarethe von Trotta (; born 21 February 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, and actress. She has been referred to as a "leading force" of the New German Cinema movement. that won the Golden Lion at the
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...
in 1981. The "Years of Lead" period ended at the close of the 1980s decade.
At the end of the 1990s, a fresh wave of political terrorism, consisting of severe yet sporadic episodes, broke out again in Italy. Episodes occurred until the early
2000s.
In addition to
political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
terrorism, which was widespread during the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
in order to contribute to the "
strategy of tension",
Mafia
"Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
-linked terrorism was active in Sicily. The main criminal organizations that operated in that period were the
Cosa Nostra
The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily ...
,
Camorra,
'Ndrangheta and
Sacra Corona Unita.
Years of Lead
Several scholars have to analyze and understand the causes during the longlasting periods of terrorism. Italy has suffered more from such political terrorism than most other European countries, with the exception of
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
and the
Basque Country in Spain. In the early 21st century, political scientist
Ernesto Galli della Loggia analyzed the issue of the Italian peculiarity, concluding that Italian society is characterized by a trace of violence. This interpretation was controversial, with opinions arising on both sides.
Giovanni Fassanella and
Giovanni Pellegrino
Giovanni Pellegrino (born 5 January 1939 in Lecce) is an Italian politician.
Born in Lecce and a lawyer by profession, he was a Senator of the Republic from 1990 with the Italian Communist Party and the Democrats of the Left to 2001. He also pres ...
also addressed the issue of terrorism in their book titled ''"La Guerra civile"'' (The Civil War), which explores the fact that Italy has been threatened by outbreaks of civil war, or terrorist events, for more than fifty years. This instability has prevented the ''normal development'' of Italy.
There has been widespread suspicion among some analysts that part of the Italian 1970s history was influenced by the activity of members of
Secret Services and extra Parliamentary political groups, which had their own interests in destabilizing the Italian political system and influencing political choices.
Terrorism did not succeed in overthrowing the state. The several
Marxist-Leninist far-left groups were ultimately defeated, and their energy faded.
At the same time,
far-right groups, the same who wanted to ''change the political formula of the previous twenty five years'', the same who terrorized the public opinion in order to underline the incapacity of the democratic system to guarantee the public order and in order to underline the need of an authoritarian regime, were defeated too.
The analysis and the debate of this complex historical period are still open. Part of the community associate those years with "left terrorism", others with "right terrorism", others with "
state terrorism
State terrorism refers to acts of terrorism which a state conducts against another state or against its own citizens.Martin, 2006: p. 111.
Definition
There is neither an academic nor an international legal consensus regarding the proper def ...
." Another part of the community believe that "there is only a partial, confused and often contradictory legal truth".
Major incidents
*
April 1969 Milan bombing
April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, Gregorian and Julian calendar, Julian calendars. It is the first of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the second of five months to have a length of less than 31 days. ...
: on April 25, 1969, a bomb exploded at the
Fiat pavilion of Milan fair - wounding six people - and a second bomb was found unexploded at the
Central Station
Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...
currency exchange office. This episode is considered by many to be the beginning of the so called "strategy of tension".
*
Piazza Fontana bombing
The Piazza Fontana bombing ( it, Strage di Piazza Fontana) was a terrorist attack that occurred on 12 December 1969 when a bomb exploded at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura (the National Agricultural Bank) in Piazza Fonta ...
: on December 12, 1969, a bomb exploded in Milan, killing seventeen people and injuring eighty-eight; a second (unexploded) bomb was found at
Piazza della Scala
Piazza della Scala is a pedestrian central square of Milan, Italy, connected to the main square of Milan, Piazza del Duomo, by the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II passage. It is named after the renowned Teatro alla Scala opera house, which occupie ...
the same day, while other three bombs exploded 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 different locations, causing some wounded.
*
Gioia Tauro massacre: on July 22, 1970, a train derailed due to a previous bomb sabotage, killing six people.
*
Peteano massacre
The Peteano massacre was a neo-fascist terrorist attack which occurred on May 31, 1972 in Peteano, a ''frazione'' of Sagrado (Gorizia), Italy. An anonymous call led five carabinieri to check a suspicious car, which turned out to be a car bomb ...
: on May 31, 1972, the explosion of a
car bomb prepared by
Ordine Nuovo militants killed three Carabinieri.
*
Milan police headquarters bombing: on May 17, 1973, a grenade attack by the anarchist
Gianfranco Bertoli
Gianfranco is a compound Italian language, Italian given name, consisting of Gian- and Franco. ''Gian-'' comes from Giovanni and is used in compound names. It is closest to John or French Jean. Gianni means "God is gracious" and Franco means "Free ...
killed four people and injured fifty-two others.
*
Piazza della Loggia bombing
The Piazza della Loggia bombing was a bombing that took place on the morning of 28 May 1974, in Brescia, Italy during an anti-fascist protest. The terrorist attack killed eight people and wounded 102. The bomb was placed inside a rubbish bin at ...
: on May 28, 1974, a bomb exploded in
Brescia
Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...
, killing eight people.
* Padova MSI headquarter attack: on June 17, 1974, the Brigate Rosse killed two Missini supporters.
*
Italicus Express bombing
The Italicus Express massacre ( it, Strage del treno Italicus) was a terrorist bombing in Italy on a train of the public rail network.
During the early hours of 4 August 1974, the bomb attack killed 12 people and wounded 48. Responsibility was ...
: on August 4, 1974, a bomb exploded on the ''Italicus'' train, killing twelve people and injuring forty-eight others.
*
Via Fani massacre: on March 16, 1978,
Aldo Moro
Aldo Romeo Luigi Moro (; 23 September 1916 – 9 May 1978) was an Italian statesman and a prominent member of the Christian Democracy (DC). He served as prime minister of Italy from December 1963 to June 1968 and then from November 1974 to July 1 ...
was kidnapped by the
Brigate rosse
The Red Brigades ( it, Brigate Rosse , often abbreviated BR) was a far-left Marxist–Leninist armed organization operating as a terrorist and guerrilla group based in Italy responsible for numerous violent incidents, including the abduction ...
, who killed five bodyguards. On May 9, 1978, the Brigate Rosse killed Moro.
*
Guido Rossa
Guido Rossa (1 December 1934 – 24 January 1979) was an Italian worker and syndicalist who was born in Cesiomaggiore, Veneto and lived for several years in Turin. His first job was at the age of 14 as a worker in a ball bearing factory, then at ...
assassination: on January 24, 1979, the Brigate Rosse killed the union official Guido Rossa in Genova.
*
Bologna massacre
The Bologna massacre ( it, strage di Bologna) was a terrorist bombing of the Bologna Centrale railway station in Bologna, Italy, on the morning of 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded over 200. Several members of the neo-fascist t ...
: on August 2, 1980, a bomb exploded at the
Bologna Centrale railway station
Bologna Centrale is a railway station in Bologna, Italy. The station is situated at the northern edge of the city centre. It is located at the southern end of the Milan-Bologna high-speed line, which opened on 13 December 2008, and the northern ...
, killing eighty-five people and wounding more than two hundred others.
Political terrorism in the 1980s
The end of the "Years of Lead" is conventionally associated with the liberation of the United States General
James Lee Dozier through a bloodless NOCS operation that took place in
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
on 28 January 1982. Actually, in 1988, the tenth anniversary of the kidnapping of Aldo Moro, there was the assassination of the Christian Democrat senator Roberto Ruffini, who is considered by the Brigate Rosse the successor of Aldo Moro.
Over the decade, the number of violent episodes waned, partially due to the loss of support of the Brigate Rosse as a result of the assassination of the communist worker Guido Rossa in 1979.
The idea that the armed struggle could lead to the changing of the constitutional order progressively became weak, and, according to some scientists, at the same time, there was the growth of the capitalist wave which transformed productivity and economic competition into values, considering them as the only progress indexes.
The following political terrorism, in particular the "red" one, restricted its objectives, trying to condition social and political processes and to maintain a certain pressure on the democratic freedom of decision. This ''third wave'' of political terrorism, despite being extremely irregular and uneven, reaped victims until the beginning of the 21st century.
One of these episodes was the
1988 Naples bombing, when
American servicemen were targeted by Japanese far-left terrorists.
Palestinian terrorism in the 1980s
During the Years of Lead, a Palestinian terrorist commando attacked
Fiumicino airport
Fiumicino () is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 80,500 (2019). It is known for being the site of Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport, the busiest airport in Italy and the eleventh-bu ...
killing 30 people. The attackers were thought to be members of the group
Black September.
In 1982, a commando of five Palestinian terrorists, part of the revolutionary council
Abu Nidal Organization
The Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) is the most common name for the Palestinian nationalist militant group Fatah – The Revolutionary Council (''Fatah al-Majles al-Thawry''). The ANO is named after its founder Abu Nidal. It was created by a spli ...
, caused the death of Stefano Gaj Tachè (2 years old) and the injury of 37 more people at the
synagogue of Rome.
Separatist terrorism in South Tyrol
The terrorism period in
South Tyrol
it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol
, settlement_type = Autonomous province
, image_skyline =
, image_alt ...
begins in the second half of the 1950s. Aim of the terrorists was the independence from Italy or the annexation to Austria. The first attacks can be ascribable to the Stieler group, but the most important illegal organization was the Committee for the Liberation of South Tyrol (''Befreiungsausschuss Südtirol''). Its first remarkable action was the so called "
Night of Fire
The Night of fire (german: Feuernacht; it, Notte dei fuochi) happened on the night of 12 June 1961 when 37 electricity pylons were blown up in South Tyrol by the South Tyrolean Liberation Committee. It formed a turning point in the history of th ...
", in 1961, when terrorists blew up several trellis using 350 explosive devices, with the intention of drawing international attention on the South Tyrol question. In the following years, there was the radicalization of this kind of terrorism and it started targeting Italian police forces.
The bloodiest attacks by the group were
Cima Vallona ambush The Cima Vallona ambush (Italian: ''Strage di Cima Vallona'') was a double improvised explosive device attack on Italian security forces at Cima Vallona, Provincia di Belluno. The ambush was carried out on 26 June 1967 by members of the South Tyro ...
in 1967, which resulted in the death of four Italian officers and the wounding of another and the 1966
Malga Sasso barracks bombing which killed three
Guardia di Finanza
The ''Guardia di Finanza'' (G. di F. or GdF) () (English: literal: ''Guard of Finance'', paraphrased: ''Financial Police'' or ''Financial Guard'') is an Italian law enforcement agency under the authority of the Minister of Economy and Finance. ...
guards and wounded four others.
Among the most wanted member of South Tyrol terrorism there are
Sepp Kerschbaumer
Sepp Kerschbaumer (9 November 1913 – 7 December 1964) was a leading member of the South Tyrolean Liberation Committee ''(Befreiungsausschuss Südtirol (BAS))'', which campaigned for the break-away of South Tyrol from Italy. In 1961, the BAS ...
, Georg Klotz, whose daughter
Eva Klotz
Eva Klotz (born 4 June 1951) is an Italian politician. She was a member of the Landtag of South Tyrol for 31 years, from 1983 until 2014. She represented several parties during that time, latterly (from 2007) the South Tyrolean Freedom.
Life ...
is considered the current leader of the South Tyrol independence movement.
Although the 1970s were relatively a "soft" period, the 1980s were characterized by the reappearance of the South Tyrol terrorism as a
Neo-nazi criminal organization, ''Ein Tirol'', which was responsible for several dynamite attacks.
As regard the analysis of the South Tyrol terrorism from the 20 September 1956 to the 30 October 1988, there were 361 attacks, 21 dead, 15 police officers, two civilians and four terrorists, killed by their own explosive devices, 57 wounded, 24 police officers and 33 civilians.
Political terrorism in Sardinia
The season of political terrorism, initiated in Italy at the beginning of the post-war period, spread across the island of
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
in the second half of the 1960s and it came to an end in the 1980s, as it happened in Italy.
Contacts between local outlaws and militants belonging to the Italian
far left organizations, such as Brigate Rosse and
Nuclei Armati Proletari The Armed Proletarian Cells ( it, Nuclei Armati Proletari, abbreviated NAP) was far-left terrorist group active in Southern Italy, from 1974 to 1977, during the so-called " Years of Lead". NAP was responsible for numerous terrorist acts.
Organiz ...
, were partially facilitated by the detention of extreme Left supporters in the maximum security prisons of the island, as it happened with the southern Italian ''mafiosi'' who were kept in prison in
Northern Italy, conditioning the birth of "
Mala del Brenta
The Nuova Mala del Brenta (), also known as Mafia veneta ("Venetian Mafia") or Mafia del Piovese, is an organized crime group based in the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, north-eastern Italy.
The criminal organization's structure is like a ...
".
The most famous terrorist and paramilitary groups in Italy were ''Barbagia Rossa'', ''Movimento Armato Sardo'' e ''Comitato di Solidarietà con il Proletariato Prigioniero Sardo Deportato'', most of them were loyal to the communist and
separatist ideology; within a decade, they claimed several attacks, assassinations and kidnappings.
Among the main supporters of the subversive and secessionist cause, there was
Giangiacomo Feltrinelli
Giangiacomo Feltrinelli (; 19 June 1926 – 14 March 1972) was an influential Italian publisher, businessman, and political activist who was active in the period between the Second World War and Italy's Years of Lead. He founded a vast library o ...
, who tried several times to make contact with numerous organizations in order to make Sardinia independent from Italy, helped by some separatist militant groups, and in order to establish a communist government based on the model proposed by
Fidel Castro in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
.
The election of
Graziano Mesina as the leader of the rebels, the most famous outlaw of the Sardinian criminal organization, were supported by both the local groups, as shown by several contacts with them, and the deviate secret services.
An attempt was the dynamite attack in August 2004, in Porto Rotondo, Sardinia, against the Chairman of the Italian Council
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 ...
during the visit of the English Prime Minister Tony Blair; the attack was claimed by the so called secessionist movements ''Organizzazione Indipendentista Rivoluzionaria'' (Oir) and ''Nuclei Proletari per il Comunismo'' (Npc).
Present political terrorism
Toward the end of the 1990s, few years later the politically-motivated assassinations, there was the reappearance on the extra-parliamentary environment of the so called Left ''insurgent terrorism'', which led to the reconstruction of subversive organisms dissolved at the end of the "Years of Lead", such as "Nuove BR".
According to this perspective, there was the assassinations of the consultants for the Ministry of Employment
Massimo D'Antona
Massimo, also Massimino, and Massimine () is a masculine Italian given name. Notable people with the name include:
Given name:
*Massimo Agostinelli (Max Agos) (born 1987), Swiss based Italian American artist, entrepreneur and activist
*Massimo Ago ...
, on 20 March 1999, and
Marco Biagi Marco Biagi can refer to:
* Marco Biagi (jurist) (1950–2002), Italian jurist
* Marco Biagi (politician)
Marco Biagi (born 31 July 1982) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He served as the Minister for Local Government and Commun ...
, on 19 March 2002, both claimed by the reborn Brigate Rosse, with the aim to put pressure on the socio-political scenario, like the "Years of Lead". The last victim,
Emanuele Petri
Emanuele is the Italian form of Manuel. People with the name include:
* Carlo Emanuele Buscaglia (1915–1944), Italian aviator
* Emanuele Basile (1949–1980), captain of Carabinieri
* Emanuele Belardi (born 1977), Italian football player
* Em ...
, agent of the Polfer, killed on 2 March 2003 during a fire fight on a train on which the new leaders of the subversive organization, Nadia Desdemona Lioce and Mario Galesi, was travelling.
In 2003, the group was officially dissolved as consequence of the arrest of Nadia Lioce, the death of Mario Galesi and the arrests of the other members of the group. In 2005, Nadia Lioce is sentenced to spend the rest of her life in prison.
Deportation of foreign suspects have been the cornerstone of Italy's counter-terrorism strategy and from January 2015 to April 2018, 300 individuals were expulsed from Italian soil.
Anarchist terrorism
Toward the end of the 1990s and for all the 2000s, a permanent subversive activity related to insurgency
anarchist terrorism
Propaganda of the deed (or propaganda by the deed, from the French ) is specific political direct action meant to be exemplary to others and serve as a catalyst for revolution.
It is primarily associated with acts of violence perpetrated by pro ...
has been carried out. Those anarchist terrorist actions were characterized by the usage of explosives. The FAI (Anarchic Informal Federation), was the organization that claimed most part of those attacks.
An anarchic organization known as "Solidarietà Internazionale" led a series of attacks from 1998 to 2000 in Milan. In summer 1998 several letter-bombs were send to different politicians, journalists, magistrates and police officers, subsequently the death of the anarchist Maria Soledad Rosas and
Edoardo Massari. These activists, known as "Sun and Flash", died by suicide in a detention facility where they were imprisoned for eco-terrorism. It was later discovered that the charge that accused them of being responsible of these actions, was a jurisdictional stunt.
In October 1998 an attack took place in the police station. In Summer 1999 two bombs were found, but for a fluke they did not burst. The foiled attack was claimed by "Solidarietà Internazionale". On 28 June 2000; incendiary bottles were thrown in Sant'Ambrogio basilica by the members of the same group, during the ceremony for the penitentiary police, but they did not explode.
In September 2001 the investigations of 14 different inter-regional prosecutors, led to a maxi raid at national level, that investigated about 60 people linked to the organization and charged with "criminal conspiracy with intent to commit a terrorist attacks and a subversion of democracy". The group had several contacts with subversive associations in Greek and England, and their aim was the fight for anarchic prisoners in Spain who were under strict regime prison.
On 1 December 2000 a worker noticed a bag hidden between the fourth and the third steeple of Milan's dome. The bomb was defused but it was programmed to explode at 3 a.m. of the following night, loaded with more than one kg of explosive.
In the night of 16 December 2009, an improvised explosive device partially exploded inside the
Bocconi University
Bocconi University ( it, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, ) is a private university in Milan, Italy. Bocconi provides education in the fields of economics, finance, law, management, political science, public administration and comput ...
of Milan. The bomb was placed in order to demand for the closure of the Identification and Expulsion Centers, and it was claimed by the FAI in a flier signed by "Nucleo Maurizio Morales" delivered to the newspaper office of
Libero. About that, the FAI declared that it wasn't its responsibility and reported a defamatory usage of the acronym.
Islamic terrorism
By the early 1990s, various jihadist networks in Italy with their roots in North Africa had been investigated by Italian authorities. Among these were the Islamic Cultural Institute (ICI) in Milan which operated in the global jihadist movement during the
Bosnian War. ICI operations diminished after a number of counter-terrorist measures.
After the attacks of the
9/11,
Islamic terrorism came back into the public debate. The reports written by Italian and foreign security agencies, showed that several Islamic cells were placed in Italy; they were related to each other and waiting for calls and tasks. In 2001 the American embassy in Rome closed during New Year's Eve, for fear of possible attacks.
In the mid-2000s, Italy did not experience an increase in jihadist attacks like several other major European countries. Italian authorities found that the number of "homegrown" jihadists who had been born in Italy was low and this was due to demographics: mass immigration of Muslims didn't start until the late 1980s and therefore second-generation Muslims had barely entered adulthood.
In December 2008, Rachid Ilhami and Albdelkader Ghafir, two Moroccan citizens, were arrested in Giussano, on the charge of planning attacks in their home town. The two men had planned three attacks in areas nearby Giussano: in the Esselunga Supermarket in Seregno, in the big parking close to the supermarket and at the local police station.
On October 12, 2009, the first suicide attack, with the high potential of causing a massacre, was carried out by a Libyan man in Milan, against a police station. The level of explosive used by the perpetrator was not high enough to cause extensive damages, and the bomber himself did not die, but he was injured together with a soldier who tried to stop him. A report to the Parliament about this event, formulated the hypothesis that the perpetrator was not connected to proper extremist organizations, but he was just a "lone wolf".
Despite Italy having several factors which could have made it a hub of jihadist activity such as proximity to the Middle East and North Africa, relatively porous borders and a large influx migrants from Muslim majority countries, Italy has not experienced the same surge in radicalization as other European countries. While 125 individuals with "ties" to Italy, a minority of whom are Italian citizens, left Italy to join the civil war in Iraq and Syria, this is a small number considering that Belgium had 470 and Sweden had 300 such individuals despite both having much smaller populations. Since the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
in 2001, there have been a small number of plots either thwarted or failed. Two individuals born in Italy have been involved in 2010s terrorist attacks, Youssef Zaghba one of the trio of attackers in the June
2017 London Bridge attack while ISIS sympathizer Ismail Tommaso Hosni attacked soldiers at
Milan's Central station in May 2017.
In the 2010s, Italy, like other European countries, experienced an increase in jihadist activities but on a lesser scale.
In July 2018, a 31-year-old Tunisian was deported from Naples due to ties to extremists. He was the 300th deportee due to extremism and the 63rd since the start of 2018.
Fugitive terrorists
At the beginning of 2007, during a Parliamentary question, the Minister of Justice
Clemente Mastella
Mario Clemente Mastella (born 5 February 1947) is an Italian politician who has served as the mayor of Benevento since 20 June 2016. He is the leader of Union of Democrats for Europe, a minor centrist Italian party. He was Minister of Labour i ...
and the Interior Minister
Giuliano Amato
Giuliano Amato (; born 13 May 1938) is an Italian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Italy, first from 1992 to 1993 and again from 2000 to 2001.
Later, he was Vice President of the Convention on the Future of Europe that drafted t ...
made public a list of fugitive terrorists "''wanted for terrorist organization, armed gang or subversive organization''", in which are stated "''113 suspects, 59 belong to Left terrorist groups, 11 to Right terrorist group, 43 to international terrorist groups''". Over the last few years, European arrest warrant has made
extradition
Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...
and processes for terrorists living abroad easier.
''Omissis'' and state secrecy
On November 7, 1977, ''Law'' 801 came into force and it imposed secrecy on "acts, documents, news, activities and anything else whose circulation might result in damages to the integrity of the democratic State". In April 2008, a government decree stated that
classified documents cannot be kept secret for more than 30 years, giving accessibility to documents that had been made secret more than 30 years before. The end of the State secrecy "does not automatically lead to the revocation or disclosure of classified documents"
Use of state secrecy
* During the investigation on White coup d'ètat, the State secrecy was imposed by the Government, but, according to Edoardo Sogno, the secrecy was not on the coup d'ètat, it was instead on a
Hungarian revolution memorandum and other documents concerning
Mario Scelba
Mario Scelba (5 September 1901 – 29 October 1991) was an Italian politician who served as the 33rd prime minister of Italy from February 1954 to July 1955. A founder of the Christian Democracy, Scelba was one of the longest-serving Minister of ...
.
* In 1985, the Chairman of the Italian Council
Bettino Craxi
Benedetto "Bettino" Craxi ( , , ; 24 February 1934 – 19 January 2000) was an Italian politician, leader of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) from 1976 to 1993, and the 45th prime minister of Italy from 1983 to 1987. He was the first PSI membe ...
imposed secrecy on documents about Augusto Cauchi, black terrorist exiled by the SID in 1974, during the
Italicus Express bombing
The Italicus Express massacre ( it, Strage del treno Italicus) was a terrorist bombing in Italy on a train of the public rail network.
During the early hours of 4 August 1974, the bomb attack killed 12 people and wounded 48. Responsibility was ...
process.
* In 1988, State secrecy was imposed to the judge Carlo Mastelloni who was investigating on the fall of a Sismi military airplane,
Argo 16, exploded in 1973, killing the whole plane crew.
Terrorism of Mafia associations
Cosa Nostra
The Italian mafia's association Cosa Nostra tried to influence the political and judiciary events also by resorting to violence, through the usage of explosives in order to spread terror. On December 23, 1984, mafia boss
Giuseppe Calò
Giuseppe "Pippo" Calò (born 30 September 1931) is an Italian mobster and member of the Sicilian Mafia in Porta Nuova. He was referred to as the "''cassiere di Cosa Nostra''" (Mafia's Cashier) because he was heavily involved in the financial si ...
organized the
Train 904 bombing
The Train 904 bombing (Italian: ''Strage del Rapido 904'' or ''Strage di Natale'' (Christmas massacre)) was a terror attack which occurred on 23 December 1984, in the ''Apennine Base Tunnel''. A bomb on the 904 express train (''Rapido 904'') from ...
, together with some members of Camorra and with members of
Neo-fascist
Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration s ...
groups. This massacre caused the death of 17 people and injured 267, for the purpose of catching the eye of authorities and distracting them from the investigations of anti-mafia pools and from the declarations of the cooperating witnesses
Tommaso Buscetta
Tommaso Buscetta (; 13 July 1928 – 2 April 2000) was an Italian mobster and a member of the Sicilian Mafia. He became one of the first of its members to turn informant and explain the inner workings of the organization.
Buscetta participated i ...
and
Salvatore Contorno
Salvatore Contorno (; born 28 May 1946), called Totuccio, is a former member of the Sicilian Mafia who turned into a state witness (''pentito'') against Cosa Nostra in October 1984, following the example of Tommaso Buscetta. He gave detailed acco ...
.
In 1992–93 Cosa Nostra returned to terrorist activities, as a consequence of several life sentences pronounced during the "
Maxi trial
The Maxi Trial ( it, Maxiprocesso) was a criminal trial against the Sicilian Mafia that took place in Palermo, Sicily. The trial lasted from 10 February 1986 (the first day of the Corte d'Assise) to 30 January 1992 (the final day of the Supreme ...
", and of the new anti-mafia measures launched by the government. In 1992 two major dynamite attacks killed the judges
Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone (; 18 May 1939 – 23 May 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian ...
(23 May in the
Capaci bombing
The Capaci bombing ( it, Strage di Capaci) was a terror attack by the Sicilian Mafia that took place on 23 May 1992 on Highway A29, close to the junction of Capaci, Sicily. It killed magistrate Giovanni Falcone, his wife Francesca Morvillo ...
) and
Paolo Borsellino
Paolo Emanuele Borsellino (; scn, Pàulu Borsellino; 19 January 1940 – 19 July 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying t ...
(19 July in the
Via D'Amelio bombing
The via D'Amelio bombing ( it, Strage di via D'Amelio) was a terrorist attack by the Sicilian Mafia, which took place in Palermo, Sicily, Italy, on 19 July 1992. It killed Paolo Borsellino, the anti-mafia Italian magistrate, and five members of ...
).
One year later (May–July 1993), after the arrest of mob boss
Salvatore Riina, the Mafia furthered their campaign of terrorism on the Italian mainland. Tourist spots were attacked, such as the
Via dei Georgofili in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
,
Via Palestro in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, and the Piazza
San Giovanni in Laterano
The Archbasilica Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran ( it, Arcibasilica del Santissimo Salvatore e dei Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano), also known as the Papa ...
and Via San Teodoro 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 ...
, leaving 10 dead and 93 injured and causing severe damage to cultural heritage such as the
Uffizi Gallery
The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...
. The Catholic Church openly condemned the Mafia, and two churches were bombed and an anti-Mafia priest shot dead in Rome.
References
{{Authority control
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
Human rights abuses in Italy