The via dei Georgofili bombing (

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 ...

: ''Strage di via dei Georgofili'') was a

terrorist 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 ...

attack carried out by the

Sicilian Mafia 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 a ...

in the very early morning on 27 May 1993 outside the

Uffizi 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 ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

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 ...

. The via dei Georgofili bombing was carried out with a

Fiat Fiorino The Fiat Fiorino is a small commercial vehicle produced by the Italian car manufacturer Fiat since 1977. Its first two generations have been the panel van derivatives of other small models, such as the Fiat 127 and Fiat Uno, while the curre ...

packed full of explosives, parked near the

Torre dei Pulci The Torre dei Pulci is a historical tower in Florence, Italy. The tower was the residence of the Pulci family in medieval and Renaissance times, including poet Luigi Pulci. It was in origin a purely defensive tower, which was enlarged until it be ...

, between the

museum and the

Arno River The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber. Source and route The river originates on Monte Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a s ...

. The edifice was the seat of the

Accademia dei Georgofili The Accademia dei Georgofili (Academy of Georgofili) is an educational institution in Florence, Italy. It was established in 1753. The academy has been a historic institution for over 250 years, and is best known for promoting, amongst scholars a ...

. The large explosion caused the death of five people: Angela Fiume (36 years old), employee and caretaker of the Accademia; her husband Fabrizio Nencioni (39 years old), policeman; their daughters Caterina Nencioni (50 days old); and Nadia Nencioni (nine years old); and Dario Capolicchio (22 years old), a junior student at the

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

class at the university. Forty-eight other people were injured by the blast. The tower and other buildings were destroyed and others damaged, including the

Gallery, where three paintings were heavily damaged or destroyed, including '' Adoration of the Shepherds'' (1620) by

Gerard van Honthorst Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch: ''Gerrit van Honthorst''; 4 November 1592 – 27 April 1656) was a Dutch Golden Age painting, Dutch Golden Age painter who became known for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, eventually receiving the nickn ...

(later partially recovered). After

Corleonesi Mafia clan The Corleonesi Mafia clan was a faction within the Corleone family of the Sicilian Mafia, formed in the 1970s. Notable leaders included Luciano Leggio, Salvatore Riina, Bernardo Provenzano, and Leoluca Bagarella. Corleonesi affiliates were ...

boss

Salvatore Riina Salvatore Riina (; 16 November 1930 – 17 November 2017), called (, Totò being the diminutive of Salvatore), was an Italian mobster and chief of the Sicilian Mafia, known for a ruthless murder campaign that reached a peak in the early 1990s ...

was captured in January 1993, the mafia began a campaign of bombing Italian cultural heritage sites. Numerous terror attacks, including this one, were ordered as warning to its members to not turn

state's witness In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...

, but also in response for the Italian state overruling of the

Article 41-bis prison regime In Italian law, Article 41-bis of the Prison Administration Act, also known as carcere duro ("hard prison regime"), is a provision that allows the Minister of Justice or the Minister of the Interior to suspend certain prison regulations. Currently ...

.The Olive Tree of Peace: The massacre in via dei Georgofili
, The Florentine, 24 May 2012) In June 1998,

pentito ''Pentito'' (; lit. "repentant"; plural: ''pentiti'') is used colloquially to designate collaborators of justice in Italian criminal procedure terminology who were formerly part of criminal organizations and decided to collaborate with a public ...

Gaspare Spatuzza Gaspare Spatuzza (Palermo, 8 April 1964) is a Sicilian mafioso from the Brancaccio quarter in Palermo. He was an assassin for the brothers Filippo and Giuseppe Graviano who headed the Mafia family of Brancaccio. After the arrest of the Gravianos ...

received a life sentence in relation to the bombing.Cronologia Centro Siciliano di Documentazione "Giuseppe Impastato"
/ref>
''La Repubblica'', 15 October 2008. In 2000, Riina,

Giuseppe Graviano Giuseppe Graviano (; September 30, 1963) is an Italian Sicilian Mafia, mafioso from the Brancaccio quarter in Palermo. He also was one the men of the death squad that murdered Salvatore Contorno's relatives. He is currently serving several life se ...

, Leoluca Bagarella and Bernardo Provenzano were sentenced to life imprisonment for ordering the massacre.

References

{{coord missing, Italy 1993 murders in Italy 20th century in Florence 20th-century mass murder in Italy Attacks on buildings and structures in 1993 Attacks on buildings and structures in Italy Car and truck bombings in Italy Crime in Tuscany History of the Sicilian Mafia Improvised explosive device bombings in 1993 Mass murder in 1993 Massacres in Italy May 1993 crimes May 1993 events in Europe Organized crime events in Italy Terrorist incidents in Italy in 1993 Building bombings in Europe Events in Florence