Assassinations and Murder in Modern Italy: Transformations in Society and Culture (Italian and Italian American Studies)

the regime's most dangerous enemy and had him murdered, along with his brother, noted historian Nello Rosselli, on a country road in Normandy. It was not only Rosselli's active participation on behalf of the Republic in the Spanish Civil War and rumored plots against il Duce that convinced the fascist regime that he had to be eliminated. Rosselli's heretical conception that the Spanish Civil War had to be expanded into a general, European-wide "preemptive strike" against fascism and Nazism sealed his fate. This conception was best expressed in his famous speech over Radio Barcelona in November 1936, "Oggi in Spagna, domani in Italia [Today in Spain, Tomorrow in Italy]." 3 Four days after this radio broadcast, a report was submitted by the fascist police: "Rosselli is the most outstanding personality of Italian antifascism in the Spanish Civil War . . . and participates in the most important executive committees. He enjoys great popularity among the antifascist soldiers who recently joined to designate him the only possible successor to Mussolini." 4 Afflicted with a recurrence of painful phlebitis, Carlo left the Spanish front and returned to Paris in the spring of 1937. He then traveled to the mud-bath resort of Bagnoles-de-l'Orne in Normandy on May 27, taking a room at the Hôtel Cordier just outside the town of Tessé-la-Madeleine. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), the Duke of Ajmone, of the Royal House of Savoy, was also in the resort town. 5 Rosselli's wife Marion soon joined him, and his brother Nello arrived on June 6, leaving his wife, Maria, and a newborn son, Alberto, in Florence. Nello's request for a passport had been granted with such efficiency and so quickly (three days) that friends, especially Piero Calamandrei in Florence, were suspicious. Calamandrei warned Nello not to go to France, fearing that agents of the regime were following him and preparing some kind of action against the brothers. Nello could not imagine anything so dramatic; had not Gioacchino Volpe, official historian of the regime and director of the Istituto Storico in Rome, pulled some strings to get Nello permission to use the Library of the British Museum for his research? Nello was more concerned with the newborn Alberto and leaving his other children, Silvia, Paola, and Aldo. Carlo was in France, and Nello felt that both their lives had reached a crisis point; he had to speak with his older brother. 6 The day of Nello's arrival, they visited Maison Blanche, the home of the historian Élie Halévy, with Raymond Aron. 7 Carlo had established a daily routine at the spa, taking the cure in the morning, working in his room until the late afternoon, Contemporary Italian history has been marked by an extraordinary series of murders and political assassinations. The shooting of King Umberto in 1900 by an anarchist, the various attempts on the life of Mussolini, the killing of former prime minister Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades in 1978, and the shooting of the student Carlo Giuliani by a policeman during the G8 protests in Genoa in 2001 were all highly controversial events that provoked far-reaching reactions. The contributions to this book explore these and many other Italian true crime and political murder cases. They analyze them in their historical and cultural contexts and explore the films, fiction, theatre and art that they have inspired. Annotation Contemporary Italian history has been marked by an extraordinary series of murders and political assassinations including the killing of the king in 1900 and the assassination of former prime minister Aldo Moro in 1978. This book explores some well- known and some lesser-known assassinations and murders and analyzes them in their historical, political and cultural contexts An extraordinary series of murders and political assassinations has marked contemporary Italian history, from the killing of the king in 1900 to the assassination of former prime minister Aldo Moro in 1978. This book explores well-known and lesser-known assassinations and murders in their historical, political and cultural contexts.