President Sergio Mattarella on
Thursday said the Piazza Fontana bombing in Milan proved to be a
"terrible trial" for Italians who found unity in defending the
country's constitutional values in order to defeat terrorists
who wanted to subvert democracy and to resume "the path towards
civil and social growth", speaking on the 55th anniversary of
the attack that claimed 17 lives and severely injured 88 people.
"The massacre which, 55 years ago, hit Milan, in Piazza Fontana,
was an expression of the subversive attempt to destabilize our
democracy, giving institutions an authoritarian twist.
"A wound in the life and conscience of our community, a
laceration in national history", the president said of the 1969
bombing long seen as being the spark for Italy's 'Years of Lead'
of political violence.
"December 12 1969 was a day in which terrorists intended to
produce a rupture in Italian society, with bombs that were also
detonated in Rome, generating chaos and a generalization of
violence", noted the president.
Within an hour of the blast at Milan's Banca Nazionale
dell'Agricoltura (National Agricultural Bank) in Piazza Fontana,
16 people were injured by three further explosions which shook
two areas of Rome.
Another bomb was discovered by police a few hours later inside a
separate bank in Milan, near the La Scala opera house.
Officers detonated the device in the courtyard of the Banca
Commerciale Italiana.
"The Republic is close to the family members of victims and
feels the duty of memory.
"The Italian people overcame a terrible trial.
"It was first of all about unity in the defence of
constitutional values to defeat the subverters and to enable the
resumption of progress towards civil and social growth.
"Milan was the symbol and the whole country knew how to be
united", said Mattarella, stressing that this represents a
"precious inheritance and, at the same time, a permanent lesson
since it wasn't a given".
The president went on to note that the massacre was followed by
attempts to subvert reality.
"The neo-Fascist imprint of the 1969 massacre has emerged with
evidence during judicial proceedings, even though deviations and
faulty delays prevented those responsible from being called to
respond for their misdeeds.
"The pressing demand for truth made by citizens has supported
the commitment and dedication of representatives of
institutions, enabling to recompose the criminal design and
responsibilities.
"Truth and democracy have an indissoluble ethic connection.
"Having reconstructed our own history, even when it most
painful, was the condition to pass on the torch to younger
generations, who now have the role of continuing to pursue the
path of civility opened by our fathers in the fight for
Liberation and in the Constitution", Mattarella said.
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