Primavalle stake, Prime Minister Meloni: “Among the darkest pages of national history”

“The Italian people were able to overcome those tough years. He didn’t do it without difficulty. The scars of the deep wounds suffered are the concrete sign of this and often come back to hurt. We cannot erase history or ask the families of the victims to forget what happened. We cannot give life back to too many young people who have sacrificed it to unjust violence. What we can do today is to keep alive the memory of what happened, to avoid the danger of relapses and to lead Italy and our people towards a full and true national peace”. These are the words of the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in a message sent to the president of the Fratelli Mattei Association, Giampaolo Mattei, on the occasion of the commemoration ceremony of the 50th anniversary of the Primavalle massacre. «This is the goal that the Fratelli Mattei Association has pursued since its foundation and that was in the heart of Mrs. Anna, an extraordinary woman who never stopped asking for justice for her children and who committed her whole life to the strength of testimony. It is the goal that I hope all political forces, institutions, educational agencies and society want to set themselves in order to convey a message of respect and tolerance to the new generations. So that in political confrontation there are no longer enemies to be overthrown or destroyed, but only opponents, with whom to confront civilly and in mutual recognition “, added the premier.

«Virgil, who was older, hugged Stefano because he saw that he couldn’t walk and he didn’t make it. Virgil preferred to die rather than leave his younger brother. We must plant trees, name squares… because they will be dead when we no longer remember them». He told it Antonella Mattei at the ceremony, addressing Francesco Rocca directly, visibly moved by the story. “Italian justice has not helped us – he underlined addressing the governor -. It is important not to have more violence but it must be said that my brothers are not like the others. Primavalle, Stefano and Virgilio are beyond a political idea. It was barbarism. We must have justice. No one ever apologized to us.”

For me it is a moment of great emotion and remembrance. We need to talk about this massacre in which the Mattei brothers died and the campaign of lies and misdirections which then prevented the timely sanction of the culprits of the left of Potere Operaio who remained abroad and escaped a sentence that came too late and too lightly”. The vice president of the Senate said, Maurice Gasparri.

What happened
The Primavalle fire was an attack (arson) carried out by some adherents of the movement of the extra-parliamentary left Potere Operaio in the Primavalle district in Rome on 16 April 1973. Virgilio and Stefano Mattei died in the fire, respectively 22 and 8 years old, sons of Mario Mattei, local secretary of the Italian Social Movement.

Three members of the Potere Operaio organization were sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment, for arson and double manslaughter, as well as for the use of explosives and incendiary material (prescribed penalty), including Achille Lollo, who only in 2005 admitted to an attack with an unexploded homemade bomb aimed at Mario Mattei, but always maintained that he had not set fire to the house with petrol.

For me it is a moment of great emotion and remembrance. We need to talk about this massacre in which the Mattei brothers died and the campaign of lies and misdirections which then prevented the timely sanction of the culprits of the left of Potere Operaio who remained abroad and escaped a sentence that came too late and too lightly”. This was stated by the vice president of the Senate, Maurizio Gasparri,