Terrorismo ed eversione nel regime fascista. Complotti, attentati e repressione (1922-1943)

It is mistakenly believed that the attacks and the subversive movement only carried out the most famous and confirmed attacks against Mussolini. The object of this work is the study of the numerous subversive projects, organized by internal and external political opponents, aimed at eliminating the prominent figures of the fascist state and the monarchy, in order to destabilize the Italian political order during the regime. The fascist era was characterized by numerous terrorist attacks, the most important of which targeted the Duce, Benito Mussolini. The attacks aimed at the Duce, following his appointment as head of the government, were directed and participated by individuals belonging to the anarchist movement and subversive movements abroad: all the attacks failed miserably. There were five attacks organized to eliminate the leader of fascism: the first dates back to 4 November 1925 in Bologna and was conceived by Tito Zaniboni and Luigi Capello; on April 7, 1926 Violet Gibson; on 11 September 1926 Gino Lucetti in Rome; on 31 October 1925 in Bologna Anteo Zamboni. The terrorist attacks also hit King Vittorio Emanuele III and Prince Umberto II. The attacks and subversion were obviously not only concentrated against the most important institutional figures, such as the Duce and the King, but were targeted at symbols, figures and places that were significant and relevant in the Italian State and in the society of the 1920s and 1930s. One of the main objectives was, especially after the Concordato, the Vatican City State and the Pope. Other subversive attacks were concentrated against ports, ships, railways and administrative buildings: in fact the subversive movement hit strategic sites of the State. Even many fascist hierarchs were not free from threats and intentions of physical suppression and retaliation. The entire work aims to frame the subversive movement in Italy and abroad in the fight against fascism, revealing subversive projects and attacks that could have changed the course of Italian and world history. Starting from an essential framework of reference on the research carried out so far by historians, events previously unknown to date were studied to understand the threat posed by the anti-fascist movement over the course of the twenty years regime. The study of the archive funds preserved at the Central State Archives (Rome) highlights subversive projects that are still completely unknown,through the study of plots and attacks found in the H2 collection. This fund made it possible to analyze unknown subversive programs dating back to the fascist era and to understand the terrorist phenomenon in the years 1922-1943. The analysis of the aforementioned fund considerably expands the state of the art on the topic. In fact, through these archival documents, the subversive and terrorist intentions of individuals and organizations resident both on the national territory and abroad have emerged with actions of sabotage of the key infrastructural centers of the Italian system. Furthermore, the theme of repression carried out by the regime was explored in depth through the analysis of numbers and statistics to outline a general picture of the fascist response to the subversive problem in Italy. The reports of the police and the OVRA were analyzed to understand the extent of the phenomenon and the actual presence of subversives who were extremely dangerous for the maintenance of Italian totalitarianism. Finally, attention was focused on the situation of fascist and anti-fascist organizations overseas, through the documentation collected at the Center for Migration Studies in New York, the New York Public Library and the archival funds of the National Archives and Record Administration (College Park, MD). Through the analysis of the aforementioned archives, the orientation assumed by the regime was reconstructed, as well as the structures and propaganda tools developed and used by the fascist regime to influence American society and involve the Italian American community in the fascist revolutionary process.