The Italicus Express massacre () was a

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

bombing in Italy on a train of the public rail network. On 4 August 1974, the bomb attack killed 12 people and wounded 48. Responsibility was claimed by the

neo-fascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology which includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, ultraconservatism, racial supremacy, right-wing populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xe ...

terrorist organization '' Ordine Nero'' (Black Order).

Bombing

The Italicus Express was a night train of the ''

Ferrovie dello Stato Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. (; ; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the initialism FS) is Italy's national state-owned enterprise, state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estate service ...

'' on which, during the early hours of 4 August 1974, a bomb exploded, killing 12 people and injuring 48. The train was traveling from Rome to

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

; having left

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

about 45 minutes earlier, it was approaching the end of the long

San Benedetto Val di Sambro San Benedetto Val di Sambro (Bolognese dialect, Medial Mountain Bolognese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Bologna in the Italy, Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about southwest of Bologna. The Italicus Express ...

tunnel under the Apennines. The bomb had been placed in the fifth

passenger car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

of the train and exploded at 01:23. Under its own momentum, the train reached the end of the tunnel. The effects of the explosion and subsequent fire would have been even more terrible had the train remained inside the confined space of the tunnel. Former

Prime Minister of Italy The prime minister of Italy, officially the president of the Council of Ministers (), is the head of government of the Italy, Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is established by articles 92–96 of the Co ...

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 ...

had been on the train on 3 August but disembarked before the train left Rome.

List of victims

* Elena Donatini * Nicola Buffi * Herbert Kotriner * Nunzio Russo * Maria Santina Carraro * Marco Russo * Tsugufumi Fukuda * Antidio Medaglia * Elena Celli * Raffaella Garosi * Wìlhelmus Jacobus Hanema * Silver Sirotti

Claim of responsibility

The following day, the fascist terrorist group Ordine Nero ''(Black Order)'' issued this statement:

We took revenge for Giancarlo Esposti. We wanted to show the nation that we can place a bomb anywhere we want, whenever and however we please. Let us see in autumn; we will drown democracy under a mountain of corpses.

According to Novopress, Giancarlo Esposti was killed on 30 May 1974, two days after the

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 bi ...

.
Google translation into English
30 May: Giancarlo Esposti Presente!
/ref>

Investigation

1974 Italicus Express bombing - Memorial 01

Aurelio Fianchini, a leftist militant who had just escaped from prison, told the press that the bomb was placed in the Italicus Express by Mario Tuti's subversive commando unit: Piero Malentacchi (who had planted the explosive at the

Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station Firenze Santa Maria Novella (in English Florence Santa Maria Novella) or Stazione di Santa Maria Novella is the main railway station in Florence, Italy. The station is used by 59 million people every year and is one of the busiest in Italy ...

), Luciano Franci and Margherita Luddi. They received the order from the Italian fascist terrorist organizations Fronte Nazionale Rivoluzionario ("revolutionary national front") and

Ordine Nuovo Ordine Nuovo (Italian language, Italian for "New Order", full name Centro Studi Ordine Nuovo, "New Order Scholarship Center") was an Italian far right cultural and extra-parliamentary political and paramilitary organization founded by Pino Rau ...

. At the time, police and intelligence knew that Tuti was a subversive. A few months after the Italicus bombing, a woman declared to judge Mario Marsili—son-in-law of

Licio Gelli Licio Gelli (; 21 April 1919 – 15 December 2015) was an Italian Freemason and businessman. 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 ...

of the

Masonic lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

Propaganda Due (; P2) was a Masonic lodge, founded in 1877, within the tradition of Continental Freemasonry and under the authority of Grand Orient of Italy. Its Masonic charter was withdrawn in 1976, and it was transformed by Worshipful Master Licio Gell ...

—that the author of the massacre was Tuti. Charges were soon filed by the magistrate, but the woman was interned in a mental hospital as a mythomaniac.

Trials

On 24 January 1975 Mario Tuti escaped from arrest by killing police sergeant Leonardo Falco and corporal Giovanni Ceravolo, and seriously injuring corporal Arturo Rocca. He fled to

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French language, French: ; or ; , locally: ; ) is the capital and largest city of Corsica, France. It forms a communes of France, French commune, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Corse-du-Sud, and head o ...

, Corsica and then relocated to the

French Riviera The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...

.
Google translation into English
Google Translate
/ref> On 16 May 1975, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment ''in absentia'', which was confirmed on 30 November 1976 in the final sentence. On 27 July, Tuti was arrested by French police after a bloody confrontation in Saint-Raphaël, and was extradited to Italy for trial. Tuti was sentenced to a 20-year prison term for two bomb attacks that had occurred on 31 December 1974 and in January 1975, illegal possession of explosives and firearms and for promoting and organizing the reconstruction of the Fascist Party. Main stages of the Italicus massacre's trial: *20 July 1983: Luciano Franci, Piero Malentacchi, Margherita Luddi and Tuti are acquitted for lack of evidence; Francesco Sgrò (janitor at the University of Rome) is convicted of slander. *18 December 1986: Franci and Tuti are sentenced to life imprisonment; Malentacchi and Luddi are acquitted for lack of evidence; Sgrò is again convicted of slander. *16 December 1987: The Court of Cassation declares the appeal process must be redone. *4 April 1991: Franci and Tuti are acquitted for lack of evidence; Malentacchi and Luddi are acquitted at the request of the public prosecutor. *24 March 1992: The final judgment of the Court of Cassation confirms the acquittals of Franci and Tuti.

References