''Piano Solo'' was an envisaged plot for an Italian

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

coup in 1964 requested by then president of the Italian Republic,

Antonio Segni Antonio Segni (; 2 February 1891 – 1 December 1972) was an Italian politician and statesman who served as President of Italy from 1962 to 1964, and as Prime Minister of Italy from 1955 to 1957 and again from 1959 to 1960. A member of the Chris ...

. It was prepared by the commander of the ''

Carabinieri The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign poli ...

'', , in the beginning of 1964 in close collaboration with the Italian secret service

SIFAR (; , ) was the military intelligence agency of Italy from 1977 to 2007. With the reform of the Italian Intelligence Services approved on 1 August 2007, SISMI was replaced by Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna (AISE).Legislative Act n.12 ...

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

secret warfare expert Vernon Walters, then chief of the CIA station in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

William King Harvey William King "Bill" Harvey (September 13, 1915 – June 9, 1976) was an American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer, best known for his role in the terrorism and sabotage campaign known as Operation Mongoose. He was known as "America ...

, and , director of the

Gladio Operation Gladio was the codename for clandestine "stay-behind" operations of armed resistance that were organized by the Western Union (WU; founded in 1948), and subsequently by NATO (formed in 1949) and by the CIA (established in 1947), in c ...

units within the military secret service SID. It was named ''Solo'' (Italian for "alone" or "only") because it was supposed to be directed only by the ''Carabinieri''.

Background

The plan was delivered on 25 May. It consisted of a set of measures to occupy certain institutions, such as

Quirinal Palace The Quirinal Palace ( ) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, the main official residence of the President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenuta di Castelporziano, an estate on the outs ...

in Rome, and essential media infrastructures (television, radio), including the neutralization of the communist and socialist parties, such as detention of cadres of the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party (, PCI) was a communist and democratic socialist political party in Italy. It was established in Livorno as the Communist Party of Italy (, PCd'I) on 21 January 1921, when it seceded from the Italian Socialist Part ...

(PCI), as well as takeover of the premises of the PCI, the

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Social democracy, social democratic and Democratic socialism, democratic socialist political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the longest-living parti ...

(PSI), the

Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity The Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity (''Partito Socialista Italiano di Unità Proletaria'', PSIUP) was a political party in Italy, active from 1964 to 1972. History The PSIUP was formed on 12 January 1964 by a leftist section of ...

(PSIUP) and the newspaper ''

l'Unità (; English: "the Unity") is an Italian newspaper, founded as the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1924. It was supportive of that party's successor parties, the Democratic Party of the Left, Democrats of the Left, a ...

'', ''

Avanti! ''Avanti!'' (; Italian interjection – 'come in!') is a 1972 comedy film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon and Juliet Mills. The screenplay by Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond is based on Samuel A. Taylor's pla ...

'' and ''Mondo Nuovo''). The pretext for such measures would have been a

false flag A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misrep ...

attempted assassination of prime minister

Aldo Moro Aldo Moro (; 23 September 1916 – 9 May 1978) was an Italian statesman and prominent member of Christian Democracy (Italy), Christian Democracy (DC) and its centre-left wing. He served as prime minister of Italy in five terms from December 1963 ...

by paratroop colonel Roberto Podesto, who would subsequently allege that he was ordered to do so by the PCI. In response to this incident, it was planned to deport the political cadres of the PCI to a secret base in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

, the premises also used by the Italian Gladio network at Capo Marrargiu. The list of people to be deported also included intellectuals, such as

Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, film director, writer, actor and playwright. He is considered one of the defining public intellectuals in 20th-century Italian history, influential both as an artist ...

. The secret was badly guarded, since as early as summer rumors of a coup were circulating during the difficult negotiations that led to the formation of

's government (26 June–17 July).

Controversy

The coup plans were investigated in 1967, when the journalist

Eugenio Scalfari Eugenio Scalfari (; 6 April 1924 – 14 July 2022) was an Italian journalist. He was editor-in-chief of '' L'Espresso'' (1963–1968), a member of Parliament in Italy's Chamber of Deputies (1968–1972), and co-founder of ''La Repubblica'' and ...

and Lino Jannuzzi uncovered the attempt in the Italian news magazine ''

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 . Since 2022, it has been published by BFC Media. From 7 August 2016 to 10 September 2023, it was ...

'' in May 1967 based on revelations from mafioso and

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

informant

Nicola Gentile Nicola Gentile (; June 12, 1885 – November 6, 1966), also known as Nick Gentile, was a Sicilian mafioso and an organized crime figure in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s. He was also known for publishing his memoirs which, violating th ...

. The results of the official investigation remained classified until the early 1990s. It was released by prime minister

Giulio Andreotti Giulio Andreotti ( ; ; 14 January 1919 – 6 May 2013) was an Italian politician and wikt:statesman, statesman who served as the 41st prime minister of Italy in seven governments (1972–1973, 1976–1979, and 1989–1992), and was leader of th ...

to the parliamentary investigation into

Operation Gladio Operation Gladio was the codename for clandestine " stay-behind" operations of armed resistance that were organized by the Western Union (WU; founded in 1948), and subsequently by NATO (formed in 1949) and by the CIA (established in 1947), in ...

. ''L'Espresso'' mentioned that some 20,000 ''Carabinieri'' were supposed to be deployed around the country, with 5,000 of them taking over Rome, including publishing outlets and the PCI headquarters. The ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' posed the possibility that the paper coup was simply used as a way to sway coalition talks between

Christian Democracy Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

and the PSI.

was apparently running out of patience with the demands from

Pietro Nenni Pietro Sandro Nenni (; 9 February 1891 – 1 January 1980) was an Italian socialist politician and statesman, the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and senator for life since 1970. He was a recipient of the Lenin Peace Priz ...

Bibliography

* Cento Bull, Anna (2007).
Italian Neofascism: The Strategy of Tension and the Politics of Nonreconciliation
'' Oxford: Berghahn Books. . * Ganser, Daniele (2004). ''Nato's Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe''. London: Cass.

References

{{reflist Attempted coups in Italy Anti-communism in Italy Political history of Italy 1964 in Italy 1960s in Italy

Background

Controversy

See also

Bibliography

References