| Italicus Express massacre | |
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Memorial (Plaque) |
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| Location | San Benedetto Val di Sambro |
| Date | 4 August 1974 1:23 AM (UTC+1) |
| Target | Strategy of tension, support far-right terrorist groups in order to spread panic among population and create the demand for a "strong" government |
| Attack type | Bomb attack |
| Deaths | 12 people killed and 48 wounded |
| Perpetrator(s) | Members of Ordine Nuovo |
The Italicus Express massacre (Italian: Strage del treno Italicus) was a terrorist bombing in Italy on a train of the Ferrovie dello Stato (Railways of the State). During the early hours of 4 August 1974, the bomb attack killed 12 people and wounded 48. Responsibility was claimed by the neo-fascist terrorist organization Ordine Nuovo.[1][2][3][4][5]
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The Italicus Express was a night train of the Ferrovie dello Stato on which, during the early hours of 4 August 1974, a bomb exploded killing 12 people and injuring 48. The train was travelling from Rome to Munich on the Bologna–Florence railway line.[1][2] The bomb had been placed in the 5th passenger car of the train and exploded at 1.23 AM. The explosion would have been even stronger if the train had exploded inside San Benedetto Val di Sambro tunnel. Former Prime Minister of Italy Aldo Moro was on the same train on 3 August, but disembarked before the explosion.[3][4][5]
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The following day, the fascist terrorist group Ordine Nuovo issued a statement in these terms:
"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 dead."
Giancarlo Esposti was killed on 30 May 1974 according to Novopress.[6] This was two days after the Piazza della Loggia bombing.
Aurelio Fianchini, a leftist militant having just escaped from prison, told the press that the bomb was placed in the Italicus Express by Mario Tuti's subversive commando formed by Piero Malentacchi, who effectively placed the explosive in the fifth passenger car of the Italicus Express at the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station, Luciano Franci and Margherita Luddi. They received the order from the Italian fascist terrorist organizations Fronte Nazionale Rivoluzionario ("revolutionary national front") and Ordine Nuovo.[3]
At the time, police and intelligence knew that Mario Tuti was a subversive. A few months after the Italicus bombing, a woman denounced to judge Mario Marsili—son-in-law of Licio Gelli of the Masonic lodge Propaganda Due—that the author of the massacre was Mario Tuti. The charge was filed soon by the magistrate and the woman was interned in a mental hospital as a mythomaniac.[3]
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 expatriated to France in Ajaccio, Corsica, and then relocated to the French Riviera.[7] On 16 May 1975 he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia and confirmed on 30 November 1976 in the final sentence.[7] On 27 July, the terrorist was arrested by French police after a bloody confrontation in Saint-Raphaël, France, and extradited to Italy for being tried.[3][7]
Tuti was sentenced to a 20 years prison term for two bomb attacks which occurred respectively 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. For the Italicus massacre, Tuti was acquitted in the first trial and then sentenced to life imprisonment in the appeal. The Supreme Court of Cassation nullified the sentence and in the next appeal Tuti was acquitted for lack of evidence.[7]
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