Pietro Valpreda (29 September 1932 – 6 July 2002) was an Italian

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

, poet, dancer, and novelist. He was sentenced to prison on charges of being responsible for the

Piazza Fontana bombing The Piazza Fontana bombing () 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 Fontana (near the ''Duomo'') in Mil ...

in December 1969. In 1987, he was acquitted by Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation for lack of evidence.

Early life, education, and activism

Valpreda came from a poor working-class family in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. After the end of his formal education, he attended dance school. He made his living as a minor dancer on stage. In 1969, he moved to

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, ...

, where he frequented the

Bakunin Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin. Sometimes anglicized to Michael Bakunin. ( ; – 1 July 1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist. He is among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major figure in the revolutionary socialist, so ...

Circle, before founding with several friends the .

Piazza Fontana bombing and miscarriage of justice

Following the bombing in Piazza Fontana, carried out on 12 December 1969 in the middle of the

Hot Autumn The Hot Autumn () of 1969–70 is a term used for a series of large Strike action, strikes in the factories and industrial centers of Northern Italy, in which workers demanded better pay and better conditions. During 1969 and 1970 there were ...

, Valpreda was arrested by the police. A taxi driver testified to having seen him on Piazza Fontana a short time before the bombing, which left 17 dead and 88 injured. His testimony was not considered reliable, even if made in good faith. Another anarchist,

Giuseppe Pinelli Giuseppe "Pino" Pinelli (21 October 1928 – 15 December 1969) was an Italian railroad worker and anarchist, who died while being detained by the ''Polizia di Stato'' in 1969. Pinelli was a member of the Milan-based anarchist association named ...

, was also arrested for the bombing, and died after falling from a fourth-floor window a few days later while the police illegally detained him. Valpreda's name was splashed across the media as "the monster of Piazza Fontana", and the television reporter

Bruno Vespa Bruno Paolo Vespa (born 27 May 1944) is an Italian television and newspaper journalist. A former director of the Italian state-owned TV channel Rai 1's news programme '' TG1'', Vespa is the founding host of the programme ''Porta a Porta'' (Engl ...

claimed that "the guilty man has been found". For three years, he languished in jail, awaiting trial. All over Italy, there were huge pro-Valpreda demonstrations and the trial was moved to the deep south in order to avoid any type of political interference. Valpreda published his prison diaries, entitled ''It Is Him'', which were the words used by the alleged witness, taxi driver Cornelio Rolandi. The criminal trial started at Rome on 23 February 1972; the Italian judiciary took 15 years to exonerate Valpreda, who was acquitted for lack of evidence, and 29 years to find someone else guilty of the bombing; Carlo Maria Maggi, Giancarlo Rognoni, and

Delfo Zorzi Delfo Zorzi (born 3 July 1947), presently known as , is an Italian-born Japanese neo-fascist. Biography Roi Zorzi was born in Arzignano, near Vicenza, Italy, on July 3, 1947. In 1968 he moved to Naples to study Asian languages, later graduatin ...

, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment, were acquitted by the Court of Appeal in 2004 and by the Supreme Court of Cassation in 2005. It was later found out that the real culprits of the bombing were other neo-fascists 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 ...

members. As it later emerged, most probably Valpreda was mistaken for , a far-right extremist close to the neo-fascist scene who was a lookalike of the anarchist. After his release, Valpreda continued to work as a dancer and opened a bar in Milano. He wrote four books with .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valpreda, Pietro 1933 births 2002 deaths Dancers from Milan Individualist anarchists Italian anarchists Italian prisoners and detainees Overturned convictions in Italy Years of Lead (Italy)

Early life, education, and activism

Piazza Fontana bombing and miscarriage of justice

See also

References