History on Fire
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Episode 114 - The Years of Lead: Piazza Fontana
🕑 Added 2025-09-14 23:39:35 +0000 UTCEDIT: APOLOGIES. THE VERSION I UPLOADED A FEW HOURS AGO WAS PLAGUED WITH TECHNICAL ISSUES. I JUST UPLOADED A NEW ONE. I THINK (AND HOPE) THIS ONE IS GOOD. APOLOGIES FOR THE CONFUSION.
“With P2, we had Italy in our hands. The Army, the Guardia di Finanzia, the police… they were all ruled by our members.” Licio Gelli
“Every week the streets of Milan were the theater of demonstrations, and were lit up by the fires of Molotov cocktails.” Guido Passalacqua
My childhood took place at a time known in Italy as The Years of Lead. It was a time of tear gas, terrorist attacks, false flag operations, anarchists getting thrown out of the windows of police stations, bombs on trains, assassinations, and street battles. One day, in my hometown, a bomb placed in a bank killed 17 people and wounded many more. It was the opening round in a war waged terrorists and some members of the secret services to bring about an authoritarian coup. This episode is about the dark days when political violence was an ever-present reality in the streets of Italy.
Comments
History on Fire
The Calvi story is crazy indeed. Super shady. I briefly touched on it in the Magliana gang episodes
tyler hood
Great episode! And a subject bereft from history conversations in the US unfortunately. And reflective of a society convulsing with large swathes of its population pulling in very different directions without enough to unite them… For Mr. Bolelli and others, I listened to an investigative podcast called ‘Gods Banker’. It dives with the intent of a journalist looking for answers, into the mysterious death of the Vatican banker Roberto Calvi. With P2, Mafiosos and the like, it’s a fun listen. *Also, there is an Italian language version of the podcast made by the creator.*
History on Fire
Yes, I don't like this timeline
AnaR737
This brought back so much that we wanted to put behind us in the swinging nineties. The overarching framework is the Cold War. Those like Italy, who were caught in a fault line, suffered very much. People forget that when they say ‘the Cold War was won’. Yes it was, but if you were in Italy, Greece or South America, horrible things happened if you got caught in the clutches of one of the great powers trying to influence politics and policy. All that plus the constant threat of nuclear armageddon. Murky murders, murky investigations. It is all so old and so current at the same time. We are headed to similar times, enhanced by technology.
