LE STRAGI E LO STATO. NARRAZIONI SU CARTA DELLO STRAGISMO ITALIANO:CRONACA, MEMORIA E STORIA.

The subject matter of the present research is the public narrative of the slaughters which took place in the Seventies, as it was filtered by today's and yesterday's newspapers. In particular, this study reconstructs the public account of the carnages of Milan (12th December 1969), Brescia (28th May 1974) and Bologna (2nd August 1980). The interest for this research was born from the perception of a historiographic vacuum concerning the "impression of reality" - and therefore the imaginary - that dailies and periodicals have erected about neo-fascist terrorism through the years. Generally speaking, subversion forces of the Right - though subject of significant studies - have been less analyzed than the ones of the Left and the well known "Moro case": that because it was often stigmatized as subordinate in respect of the State and therefore devoid of its own characteristics. This is exactly the field the present study explores, looking at Italian history throughout the interpretation of terrorism given by the press. Choosing the journalistic source as an historical one in order to analyze interpretative categories and pictures of reference at disposal of the public opinion required to take into consideration distinctive elements of the Italian journalism and its relationships with the national political contest in the years of the slaughters, with a focus on changes occurred in time in the means of mass communication and on the international scenario, from 1969 to 2017. Furthermore, international political scenarios of the Cold War are constantly recalled due to the intimate connection among subversion forces of the Right, the police and Italian security services on the one hand, and geopolitical international balances on the other. The research draws from numerous national newspapers in order to take into consideration different editorial lines and their political orientations, diverse styles of communication and the variety of readers addressed by each newspaper. Historical archives most referred to are those of “Corriere della Sera”, “La Stampa”, “la Repubblica”, “L’Unità”, “Il Giorno”, “La Notte”, “La Nazione”, “L’Avanti!”, “il Manifesto”, “Lotta Continua”, “Umanità Nova”, “Il Popolo”, “il Secolo d’Italia”, “Candido” e “il Borghese”. Each slaughter is analyzed in a specific chapter in which historical events and judicial results are introduced, press reactions are examined in depth, years of the trials and reception of sentences are retraced: finally, the civic echo of literary works published in the decades is reconstructed. Examining news sections and in-depth editorials consented to sift through the transposition of official versions given by police forces, the magistrature and politicians, memories of the protagonists of the episodes and the analysis presented by opinion makers who from time to time described Italian slaughters (journalist, historians, magistrates and social scientists). The final chapter deals with the issue of “Memory” and its relationship with “History”, through the examination of biographies written by ex-terrorists, first, second and third generation victims, all the way to the matter of reconciliation and pacification. Therefore, this research recreates the spur of the moment debate as well as the ex post one, with the awareness that information and public communication of the “History” are of uttermost importance for the historicization of the traumatic past of the Nation.