Acca Larentia killings

The Acca Larentia killings were a series of murders that occurred in Rome on January 7, 1978. Two members of the Youth Front of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), an Italian far-right party, were murdered while they were leaving local party headquarters to distribute pamphlets. A third was later shot in the head and died hours later.

Events

Five MSI members were fired upon by a group of five to six assailants armed with automatic weapons. Franco Bigonzetti and Francesco Ciavatta were killed during the incident. Vincenzo Segneri, although wounded in one arm, returned to MSI headquarters along with Maurizio Lupini and Giuseppe D'Audino, both of whom were unharmed. A crowd, composed mainly of MSI activists, gathered at the attack site, and riots erupted which required the intervention of police armed with tear gas. The equipment of RAI journalists was damaged at the scene. Later the national secretary of the youth front, Gianfranco Fini, was wounded by a tear gas canister fired by the police.

The third victim was killed a few hours later by a gunshot to the head. Carabinieri Captain, Edoardo Sivori, was suspected of the killing but was never charged with murder.

One of the machine guns used in the assault was found, years later, in an apartment used by the leftist terrorist group, "Brigate Rosse".

The killings marked a fracture between the Right and the institutions within the Party, leading to the formation of a new extremist group called NAR (Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari). Francesca Mambro, one of the NAR leaders and daughter of a police officer herself, kept the bloody head of Francesco Recchioni after his death.

Singer and songwriter Fabrizio Marzi dedicated the song, "Giovinezza" ("Youth"), to him in 1979. Recchioni had died in hospital two days later.

Further events

On January 10, 1979, riots broke out during commemorations of the killings when a police officer, Alessio Speranza, shot and killed seventeen years old Alberto Giaquinto. He was acquitted of all charges.

On January 7, 2008, a candlelight vigil was held in honour of the victims and all those killed in the Years of Lead; Attendees marched from Piazza San Giovanni through Tuscolana, to the location of the shooting, Acca Larentia, where the three boys were honoured with Roman salutes.

Rome's mayor Gianni Alemanno decided to name a Roman road for the three victims, while the previous mayor Walter Veltroni decided to rename a street in honour of Paolo di Nella.[1]

Filmography
  • Rhythm 'n Blood, (dialoghi in controtempo) a film by Kaspar Hauser, was released in 2008. The documentary relates the massacre and the following attack to "Radio Città Futura", a movement radio station based in Rome.

See also

References
  1. Da Veltroni una via al ragazzo di destra ucciso

Sources
  • Luca Telese, Cuori Neri. Dal rogo di Primavalle alla morte di Ramelli, 2006, ISBN 88-200-3615-0
  • Massimiliano Morelli, Acca Larentia-Asfalto nero sangue, 2008, ISBN 978-88-88329-84-0
  • Andrea Colombo, Storia Nera, Bologna La verità di Francesca Mambro e Valerio Fioravanti, Cairo editore, 2007, ISBN 978-88-6052-091-3
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