Bologna massacre
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The Bologna massacre ( it, strage di Bologna) 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 ...
bombing of 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 ...
in
Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
, Italy, on the morning of 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded over 200. Several members of the
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 ...
terrorist organization (NAR, Armed Revolutionary Nuclei) were sentenced for the bombing, although the group denied involvement.


Events

At 10:25
CEST CEST or cest may refer to: * Central European Summer Time (UTC+2), daylight saving time observed in the central European time zone * Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory * Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer, a subset of Magnetization transfer in ...
, a
time bomb A time bomb (or a timebomb, time-bomb) is a bomb whose detonation is triggered by a timer. The use (or attempted use) of time bombs has been for various purposes including insurance fraud, terrorism, assassination, sabotage and warfare. They are ...
hidden in an unattended suitcase detonated in an air-conditioned waiting room at the Bologna station, which was full of people seeking relief from the August heat. The explosion collapsed the roof of the waiting room, destroyed most of the main building, and hit the
Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...
Chiasso Chiasso (; lmo, Ciass ) is a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. As the southernmost of Switzerland's municipalities, Chiasso is on the border with Italy, in front of Ponte Chiasso (a frazione of Co ...
train which was waiting at the first platform. The station was full of tourists that Saturday, and the city was unprepared for a major disaster. Many passers-by and travelers provided first aid to victims and helped rescue people who were buried under the rubble. Due to the large number of casualties and an insufficient number of emergency vehicles available to transport the injured to hospitals, firefighters used
bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es, private cars, and
taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...
s. Some doctors and hospital staff returned early from vacation to care for the victims, and hospital departments which were closed for the summer holidays were reopened to accommodate the casualties. After the attack, large demonstrations were held in
Piazza Maggiore Piazza Maggiore (''Piâza Mażåur'' in the Bolognese language) is a central square in Bologna, region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The appearance in the 21st century, generally reflects the layout from the 15th century. The Northwest corner opens i ...
(Bologna's central square). Harsh criticism was directed at
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
representatives who attended the 6 August funerals of the victims in the
Basilica San Petronio The Basilica of San Petronio is a minor basilica and church of the Archdiocese of Bologna located in Bologna, Emilia Romagna, northern Italy. It dominates Piazza Maggiore. The basilica is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, Saint Petroniu ...
. The only applause was reserved for
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
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 ...
, who arrived by helicopter in Bologna at 5:30 pm the day of the massacre and tearfully said: "I have no words; we are facing the most criminal enterprise that has ever taken place in Italy." The #37 bus (used to transport victims) and the clock (stopped at 10:25) were symbols of the massacre. The attack was the worst atrocity in Italy since
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 ...
.


Investigation

The government, led by Christian Democratic
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Francesco Cossiga, first assumed that the incident was due to an accidental explosion of an old
boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centr ...
in the station's basement. Evidence, however, soon pointed to
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 ...
. ''
L'Unità ''l'Unità'' (, lit. 'the Unity') was an Italian language, 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, ...
'', the
Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) ...
(PCI) newspaper, attributed responsibility for the attack to
neo-fascists 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 (politics), nativism, xenophobia, and an ...
on 3 August. Later, in a special session of the Senate, Cossiga also supported the theory that neo-fascists were behind the attack: "Unlike leftist terrorism, which strikes at the heart of the state through its representatives,
right-wing terrorism Right-wing terrorism, hard right terrorism, extreme right terrorism or far-right terrorism is terrorism that is motivated by a variety of different right-wing and far-right ideologies, most prominently, it is motivated by neo-Nazism, anti-com ...
prefers acts such as massacres because acts of extreme violence promote panic and impulsive reactions." The bomb was later found to be composed of of explosives: of
TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
and
Composition B Composition B, colloquially Comp B, is an explosive consisting of castable mixtures of RDX and TNT. It is used as the main explosive filling in artillery projectiles, rockets, land mines, hand grenades and various other munitions. It was also ...
and of T4 ( nitroglycerin for civil use).


False leads

Shortly after the bombing, the Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata press agency received a call from an individual claiming to represent NAR and claiming responsibility. The call later proved fake, originating instead from the Florence office of
SISMI Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare (abbreviated SISMI, ''Military Intelligence and Security Service'') was the military intelligence agency of Italy from 1977–2007. With the reform of the Italian Intelligence Services app ...
(the Italian Military Secret Service). Federigo Manucci Benincasa, the director of SISMI's Florence branch, was later charged with obstruction of justice. A Lebanese connection was claimed in September 1980, involving
Al Fatah Fatah ( ar, فتح '), formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist social democratic political party and the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and s ...
,
Phalangist The Kataeb Party ( ar, حزب الكتائب اللبنانية '), also known in English as the Phalanges, is a Christian political party in Lebanon. The party played a major role in the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990). In decline in the la ...
s, Italian radicals and Swiss journalists tied to the Italian intelligence community, who supplied investigators with fake notes, memos, and reports. This was followed by a
KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
connection concocted by intelligence head General Giuseppe Santovito, a member of P2, and
Francesco Pazienza Francesco Pazienza (born in 1946, Monteparano) is an Italian businessman, and former officer of the Italian military intelligence agency, SISMI. As of April 2007, he has been paroled to the community of Lerici, after serving many years in prison, ...
. Generals
Pietro Musumeci Pietro Musumeci (born 18 May 1920) was a general and deputy director of Italy's military intelligence agency, SISMI. Musumeci was born in Catania on 18 May 1920. A member of ''Propaganda Due'', Musumeci was convicted in 1985, along with other SISMI ...
, another member of P2, and Belmonte of SISMI had a police sergeant put a suitcase full of similar explosives on a train in Bologna. The suitcase also contained personal items belonging to two right-wing extremists, a Frenchman, and a German. Musumeci also produced a phony dossier, entitled "Terror on trains". He was charged with falsifying evidence to incriminate
Roberto Fiore Roberto Fiore (born 15 April 1959) is an Italian politician and the leader of the party Forza Nuova, convicted in Italy for subversion and armed gang for his links to the right wing terrorism organization "Terza posizione". He self-identifies ...
and
Gabriele Adinolfi Gabriele Adinolfi is an Italian far-right ideologue and essayist. Adinolfi was involved in Terza Posizione, a short-lived far-right group founded in 1979. Like other neo-fascists of his generation, he saw his enemy as the far-left and the Italia ...
, two leaders of the far-right
Terza Posizione Terza Posizione ( en, Third Position) was a short-lived neo-fascist political movement founded in Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map ...
who had fled to London.René Monzat, ''Enquêtes sur la droite extrême'',
Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
-éditions, 1992, p. 89.
Both Terza Posizione leaders said that Musumeci was trying to divert attention from P2 head
Licio Gelli Licio Gelli (; April 21, 1919 – December 15, 2015) was an Italian financier. A Fascist volunteer in his youth, he is chiefly known for his role in the Banco Ambrosiano scandal. He was revealed in 1981 as being the Venerable Master of the ...
. Musumeci and Belmonte were convicted of obstructing the investigation.


Prosecution

The attack has been attributed to the NAR (Armed Revolutionary Nuclei), a neo-fascist terrorist organization. A long, controversial court case began after the bombing. Francesca Mambro and
Valerio Fioravanti Giuseppe Valerio "Giusva" Fioravanti (born 28 March 1958) is an Italian former terrorist and actor, journalist and human rights activist, who, with Francesca Mambro, was a leading figure in a far-right terrorist group ''Nuclei Armati Rivoluziona ...
were sentenced to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Luigi Ciavardini, a NAR member with close ties to Terza Posizione, in April 2007. Ciavardini received a 30-year prison sentence for his role in the attack. He had been arrested after the
armed robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...
of the Banca Unicredito di Roma on 15 September 2005."Arrestato l'estremista nero Ciavardini per una rapina a mano armata"
''
la Repubblica ''la Repubblica'' (; the Republic) is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and led by Eugenio Scalfari, Carlo Caracciolo and Arnol ...
'', 10 October 2006 .
Ciavardini was also charged with the assassinations of Francesco Evangelista on 28 May 1980 and Judge
Mario Amato Mario Amato (24 November 1937, in Palermo – 23 June 1980, in Rome) was an Italian magistrate, assassinated in 1980 by NAR (''Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari'') members and .Massimo Morsello Massimo Morsello (10 November 1958, Rome – 10 March 2001) was an Italian fascist political and singer-songwriter. He was the main figure of Italian fascist political music and, with Roberto Fiore, a co-founder of the Italian neo-fascist moveme ...
(future founder of the neo-fascist organization and political party
Forza Nuova New Force ( it, Forza Nuova, FN) is an Italian neo-fascist political party. It was founded by Roberto Fiore and Massimo Morsello. The party is a member of the Alliance for Peace and Freedom and was a part of the Social Alternative from 2003 to ...
), Francesca Mambro, Aldo Semerari, Maurizio Neri, and Paolo Signorelli. They were interrogated in Ferrara, Rome, Padua, and Parma. All were released from prison in 1981. Semerari was murdered by the Camorra a year later. The first trial began in Bologna on 9 March 1987. Massimiliano Fachini, Valerio Fioravanti, Francesca Mambro, Sergio Picciafuoco, Roberto Rinani and Paolo Signorelli were charged with murder. Gilberto Cavallini, Fachini, Fioravanti, Egidio Giuliani, Marcello Iannilli, Mambro, Giovanni Melioli, Picciafuoco, Roberto Raho, Rinani and Signorelli were charged with forming an armed gang. Marco Ballan, Giuseppe Belmonte, Fabio De Felice,
Stefano Delle Chiaie Stefano Delle Chiaie (13 September 1936, Caserta – 10 September 2019, Rome) was an Italian neo-fascist terrorist. He was the founder of ''Avanguardia Nazionale'', a member of '' Ordine Nuovo'', and founder of Lega nazionalpopolare. He went on ...
, Fachini,
Licio Gelli Licio Gelli (; April 21, 1919 – December 15, 2015) was an Italian financier. A Fascist volunteer in his youth, he is chiefly known for his role in the Banco Ambrosiano scandal. He was revealed in 1981 as being the Venerable Master of the ...
, Maurizio Giorgi,
Pietro Musumeci Pietro Musumeci (born 18 May 1920) was a general and deputy director of Italy's military intelligence agency, SISMI. Musumeci was born in Catania on 18 May 1920. A member of ''Propaganda Due'', Musumeci was convicted in 1985, along with other SISMI ...
,
Francesco Pazienza Francesco Pazienza (born in 1946, Monteparano) is an Italian businessman, and former officer of the Italian military intelligence agency, SISMI. As of April 2007, he has been paroled to the community of Lerici, after serving many years in prison, ...
, Signorelli and Adriano Tilgher were charged with subversive association. Belmonte, Gelli, Musumeci and Pazienza were charged with defamation.Sergio Zavoli, ''La notte della Repubblica'', Nuova Eri, 1992 . On 11 July 1988, Fachini, Fioravanti, Mambro and Picciafuoco were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder; Rinani and Signorelli were acquitted. Cavallini, Fachini, Fioravanti, Giuliani, Mambro, Picciafuoco, Rinani and Signorelli were convicted of forming an armed gang; Iannilli, Melioli and Raho were acquitted. Ballan, Belmonte, Felice, Delle Chiaie, Fachini, Gelli, Giorgi, Musumeci, Pazienza, Signorelli and Tilgher were acquitted of subversive association. Belmonte, Gelli, Musumeci and Pazienza were convicted of defamation. The appeal process began on 25 October 1989. On appeal, Fachini, Fioravanti, Mambro, Picciafuoco, Rinani and Signorelli were acquitted of murder on 18 July 1990. Cavallini, Fioravanti, Mambro and Giuliani were convicted of forming an armed gang. Belmonte and Musumeci were convicted of defamation, and the other defendants were acquitted. On 12 February 1992, the Supreme Court of Cassation acquitted Rinani and Signorelli of murder; Signorelli was also acquitted of forming an armed gang and subversive association. The court also acquitted other defendants, canceled the judgment and ordered a new trial because the sentences were "illogical, incoherent, not assessing proofs and evidence in good terms, not taking into account the facts preceding and following the event, unmotivated or poorly motivated, in some parts the judges supporting unlikely arguments that not even the defense had argued". The new trial began on 11 October 1993. Massimiliano Fachini, Valerio Fioravanti, Francesca Mambro and Sergio Picciafuoco were charged with murder; Gilberto Cavallini, Massimiliano Fachini, Egidio Giuliani, Valerio Fioravanti, Francesca Mambro, Sergio Picciafuoco and Roberto Rinani were charged with forming an armed gang, and Giuseppe Belmonte, Licio Gelli, Pietro Musumeci, and Francesco Pazienza were charged with defamation. On 16 May 1994, Fioravanti, Mambro and Picciafuoco were sentenced to life imprisonment; Fachini was acquitted. Cavallini, Fioravanti, Giuliani, Mambro and Picciafuoco were convicted of forming an armed gang; Fachini and Rinani were acquitted. Belmonte, Gelli, Musumeci and Pazienza were convicted of defamation. On 23 November 1995: The Supreme Court upheld Fioravanti, Mambro, Gelli, Pazienza, Musumeci and Belmonte's convictions, ordering a new trial for Picciafuoco (who was acquitted by the Appeals Court 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 ...
on 18 June 1996, a verdict upheld by the Supreme Court on 15 April 1997). In April 1998, Mambro was given home confinement and allowed to leave prison during the day. In June 2000,
Massimo Carminati Massimo Carminati (; born 31 May 1958), allegedly nicknamed "the last king of Rome", is an Italian underworld figure and former member of far-right terrorist group Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari and criminal gang Banda della Magliana, which were at ...
(NAR member), Ivano Bongiovanni (far-right sympathizer) and Federigo Manucci Benincasa (
SISMI Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare (abbreviated SISMI, ''Military Intelligence and Security Service'') was the military intelligence agency of Italy from 1977–2007. With the reform of the Italian Intelligence Services app ...
officer) were convicted of obstruction. Carminati and Manucci Benincasa were acquitted for lack of evidence in December 2001, and Bongiovanni's conviction was upheld. On 30 January 2003, the Court of Cassation finally acquitted Carminati and Manucci Benincasa. In an article written by Alfio Bernabei for the British anti-fascist ''
Searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...
'' magazine in April 2022, it was reported that "In a significant step in search for the truth behind the bombing at Bologna railway station that killed 85 people and wounded 200 on 2 August 1980 the far-right militant Paolo Bellini has been found guilty of direct involvement in the massacre. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment. The hearings at Bologna law Court began in April 2021 presided over by Judge Francesco Caruso with a number of lawyers acting on behalf of the Association of the Families of the Victims. Bellini, now 69-year-old, belonged to the far-right organisation
Avanguardia Nazionale The National Vanguard ( it, Avanguardia Nazionale) is a name that has been used for at least two neo-fascist and neo-Nazi groups in Italy. Original group The original National Vanguard was an extra-parliamentary movement formed as a breakaway gro ...
on whose instigation he killed a young left wing militant, Alceste Campanile, in 1975. In 1999 he confessed to this killing adding that he had also killed a number of people on behalf of mafia bosses. But he denied any involvement in the Bologna massacre."


Alternative theories

As a result of protracted legal procedures and false leads, a number of theories were proposed during the years after the attack. Involvement by Italian Secret Service officials was suggested. Between 1999 and 2006, during sessions of the parliamentary commission established to probe terrorism in Italy and the failure to identify those responsible for the massacre and a commission investigating the Mitrokhin dossier and Italian intelligence activity, new information emerged on international terrorist networks and Italian intelligence in the former Soviet bloc and Arab countries such as Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen and Iraq. Secret agreements with the Palestinian leadership tied to arms trafficking between the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, translit=al-Jabhah al-Sha`biyyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn, PFLP) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary so ...
and Italy and a warning to the Italian anti-terrorist secret service three weeks before the massacre were discovered. Thomas Kram, member of a German terrorist group linked to Carlos the Jackal and the Palestinians, was in Bologna on the day of the massacre. On 17 November 2005, the Bologna prosecutor opened a case (Dossier 7823/2005 RG) against unknown persons. According to media reports in 2004 and 2007, Francesco Cossiga suggested Palestinian involvement in a letter to
Enzo Fragalà Enzo is an Italian given name derivative of the German name Heinz. It can be used also as the short form for Lorenzo, Vincenzo, Innocenzo, or Fiorenzo. It is most common in the Romance-speaking world, particularly in Italy and Latin America but ...
of the Mitrokhin Commission. In 2005, Carlos the Jackal said that "the Mitrokhin Commission attempts to falsify history" and "they were the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
and the Mossad to hit in Bologna" with the intent to punish Italy for its relationship with the PLO. After the 2006 arrest of former Argentine Triple A member
Rodolfo Almirón Rodolfo Eduardo Almirón Sena (17 February 1936 – 5 June 2009) was a former Argentine police officer and a leader of an extreme right-wing death squad known as the Triple A, operating in Argentina from 1973 to 1976 against the left-wing of ...
, Spanish lawyer José Angel Pérez Nievas declared that it was "probable that Almirón participated—along with
Stefano Delle Chiaie Stefano Delle Chiaie (13 September 1936, Caserta – 10 September 2019, Rome) was an Italian neo-fascist terrorist. He was the founder of ''Avanguardia Nazionale'', a member of '' Ordine Nuovo'', and founder of Lega nazionalpopolare. He went on ...
and
Augusto Cauchi Augusto is an Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish given name or surname. Notable people with the name include: * Augusto Aníbal *Augusto dos Anjos * Augusto Arbizo *Augusto Barbera (born 1938), Italian law professor, politician and judge *Augusto B ...
—in the 1980 bombing in Bologna's train station". In 1998, the
Supreme Court of Argentina The Supreme Court of Argentina ( es, link=no, Corte Suprema de Argentina), officially known as the Supreme Court of Justice of the Argentine Nation ( es, link=no, Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación Argentina, CSJN), is the highest court of l ...
refused to extradite Cauchi to Italy. In May 2007, Massimo Sparti's son said: "My father has always lied about the Bologna investigation". During a 2008
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
interview, former Italian president Francesco Cossiga reaffirmed his belief that the massacre was attributable to Palestinian resistance groups operating in Italy (rather than fascist black terrorism) and in the innocence of Francesca Mambro and
Valerio Fioravanti Giuseppe Valerio "Giusva" Fioravanti (born 28 March 1958) is an Italian former terrorist and actor, journalist and human rights activist, who, with Francesca Mambro, was a leading figure in a far-right terrorist group ''Nuclei Armati Rivoluziona ...
. The PFLP has always denied responsibility. On 19 August 2011, the Bologna prosecutor began an investigation of two German terrorists: Thomas Kram and Christa Margot Fröhlich, both linked to Carlos the Jackal's group and in Bologna on the day of the attack.


Legacy

Relatives of the victims formed the ''Associazione dei familiari delle vittime della strage alla stazione di Bologna del 2 agosto 1980'' on 1 June 1981 to raise and maintain awareness of the bombing. The group, which began with 44 members, grew to 300. On 6 April 1983, the association and victims' associations of victims of the
Piazza Fontana 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 ...
, Piazza della Loggia and
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 ...
s formed the Union of Relatives of Victims to Massacres (Unione dei Familiari delle Vittime per Stragi) 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 ...
. Bologna and the ''Associazione tra i familiari delle vittime della strage alla stazione di Bologna del 2 agosto 1980'' sponsor an annual international composition competition which ends with a concert in
Piazza Maggiore Piazza Maggiore (''Piâza Mażåur'' in the Bolognese language) is a central square in Bologna, region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The appearance in the 21st century, generally reflects the layout from the 15th century. The Northwest corner opens i ...
on 2 August, a national memorial day for all terrorist massacres. Although the damaged part of the station has been mostly reconstructed, the original floor tile pierced by the detonation has been left in place and a deep crack (covered by a glass panel) has been left in the reconstructed main wall. The station clock was stopped at 10:25, the time of the explosion, in 1996. In February and July 2020, the Italian weekly ''
L'Espresso ''L'Espresso'' () is an Italian weekly news magazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies; the other is '' Panorama''. Since 2022 it has been published by BFC Media. History and profile One of Italy's foremost newsmagazines, ' ...
'' published a reportage that demonstrated the couple
Licio Gelli Licio Gelli (; April 21, 1919 – December 15, 2015) was an Italian financier. A Fascist volunteer in his youth, he is chiefly known for his role in the Banco Ambrosiano scandal. He was revealed in 1981 as being the Venerable Master of the ...
- Umberto Ortolani financed the terrorists of the slaughter and subsequently took care of the necessary red herrings thanks to the support of
Federico Umberto D'Amato Federico Umberto D'Amato (4 June 1919 – 1 August 1996)Carlo Lucarelli, ''Piazza Fontana'', Turin, Einaudi, 2007. p. 100 was an Italian secret agent, who led the Office for Reserved Affairs of the Ministry of Interior (Italy) from the 1950s til ...
.


In popular culture

The bombing is the backdrop of a chapter of
Laurent Binet Laurent Binet (born 19 July 1972) is a French writer and university lecturer. His work focuses on the modern political scene in France. Biography The son of a historian,Valérie Trierweiler, October 18, 2010"Laurent Binet, retour sur un succès" ...
's '. The 2017 French novel, which satirizes late-20th-century Parisian intellectual and political life, involves two detectives investigating what they assume to be the murder of the philosopher
Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 26 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popula ...
. The detectives, who travel to Bologna to interview
Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel ''The Name of th ...
, narrowly escape injury in the attack. The bombing is a topic of conversation in the 2021 novel, ''Lady In Red'', by Jackie Hemingway. News reports about the bombing are broadcast over the radio as the main protagonist, Jack Hemingway, purchases a book in a Liverpool, England, bookstore. Later an Italian intelligence agent meets with Hemingway in a bar where Hemingway slips the Italian agent a list of names in a newspaper that turn out to be of possible conspirators in the bombing.


See also

*
List of right-wing terrorist attacks This is a list of right-wing terrorist attacks. Right-wing terrorism is terrorism that is motivated by a variety of different right-wing and far-right ideologies, most prominently by neo-Nazism, neo-fascism, ecofascism, white nationalism, whit ...
* ''
Banda della Magliana The Banda della Magliana (, ''Magliana Gang'') is an Italian criminal organization based in Rome. It was founded in 1975. Given by the media, the name refers to the original neighborhood, the Magliana, of some of its members. The ''Banda dell ...
'', a mafia gang with links to the fascist-aligned NAR * False flag operations *
List of terrorist incidents The following is a list of terrorist incidents that have not been carried out by a state or its forces (see state terrorism and state-sponsored terrorism). Assassinations are listed at List of assassinated people. Definitions of terroris ...
*
Itavia Flight 870 On 27 June 1980, Itavia Flight 870 (IH 870, AJ 421), a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 passenger jet en route from Bologna to Palermo, Italy, crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea between the islands of Ponza and Ustica, killing all 81 people on board. Known ...
* ''
La notte della Repubblica ''La notte della Repubblica'' (''The Night of the Republic'') is a TV programme presented by Sergio Zavoli, broadcast by the Italian public TV channel Rai 2 Rai 2 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned ...
'' (TV programme) *
List of massacres in Italy The following is a list of massacres that have occurred in Italy and its predecessors (numbers may be approximate): they are divided by the presence of culpability or not. List parameters A ''massacre'' is the killing of a large number of p ...
*
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 ...
* Strategy of tension * Games of the XXII Olympiad (Moscow) * Propaganda Due (P2 lodge) * Carlos the Jackal *
Terrorism in Europe history of terrorism in Europe. This has often been linked to nationalist and separatist movements (separating countries), while other acts have been related to politics (including anarchism, far-right and far-left extremism), religious extremis ...


References


Further reading

*''La strage. L'atto d'accusa dei giudici di Bologna'', dir. Giuseppe de Lutiis,
Editori Riuniti Editori Riuniti is an Italian publishing house based in Rome that publishes books and magazines on the history of socialism, socialist thought, physics and mathematics theory, and the history of Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Histor ...
, Rome, 1986 *''La versione di K. Sessant'anni di controstoria'', Francesco Cossiga, Rizzoli, Milan, 2009, *''Stragi e mandanti: sono veramente ignoti gli ispiratori dell'eccidio del 2 agosto 1980 alla stazione di Bologna?'',
Paolo Bolognesi Paolo is both a given name and a surname, the Italian form of the name Paul. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name Paolo Art *Paolo Alboni (1671–1734), Italian painter *Paolo Abbate (1884–1973), Italian-American ...
and
Roberto Scardova The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
, Aliberti, 2012, *''Il patto tradito'', Marino Valentini, Chiaredizioni, 2019,


External links


stragi.it
official website of the association of the relatives of the victims (Italian only)
BBC Overview of the events



Bologna Central Station


''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
''. 18 August 1980.
A Massacre to Remember — The Bologna Train Station Bombing Twenty-Five Years Later

L'ora della verità
a committee for claiming the innocence of Luigi Ciavardini and to reveal dark spots of the court case (Italian only)
La strage di Bologna nel contesto internazionale della guerra fredda e le “relazioni pericolose” nazionali ed internazionali del Lodo Moro
notes from the Conference "I segreti di Bologna", Rome 21 October 2016 (Italian only)
Presentazione del libro "I segreti di Bologna" di Valerio Cutonilli e Rosario Priore (Ed. Chiarelettere)
Conference at Radio Radicale on the Bologna Massacre, Rome, October 2016 (Italian only) {{Authority control 1980 murders in Italy
Massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...
20th-century mass murder in Italy Massacres in 1980 Attacks on buildings and structures in 1980 Attacks on railway stations in Europe August 1980 crimes August 1980 events in Europe Building bombings in Italy Crime in Emilia-Romagna Improvised explosive device bombings in 1980 Massacres in Italy Neo-fascist attacks in Italy Railway accidents and incidents in Italy Terrorist incidents in Italy in 1980 Terrorist incidents on railway systems in Europe Years of Lead (Italy)