Simona Colarizi

This book focuses on the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Aldo Moro. It not only reconstructs the facts, but also sheds light on the national and global reasons for which he was killed. Moro’s assassination was a watershed moment in the history of the Italian Republic from 1945 until today. However, its relevance was not only national: it was in many ways a global event, a significant episode in the history of the confrontation between the blocs in the Cold War. This book is written by two authors – a professional historian as well as prominent politician, Claudio Signorile, who was deputy secretary general of the Italian Sociality Party and in contact with the Red Brigades during the negotiations to save Moro’s life. Divided into three parts, the first part analyses Italy as a frontier country in the Cold War. It considers all the bloody episodes, from the early seventies until the Moro case, that mark the tension between the USSR and the USA. The second part examines the political situation in Italy in greater detail – the chronic weakness of the political system as well as the nature of red and black Italian terrorism. The third part scrutinizes the kidnapping story that many persons believe, are not an entirely Italian affair. After four parliamentary commissions of inquiry (the most recent occurring in 2022), there is still no certainty about what happened and who had killed Moro.

Questo volume affronta, secondo tre direttrici fondamentali, gli avvenimenti del 1943, vero e proprio anno cerniera nel secondo conflitto mondiale, l'anno della svolta fatale: mutarono gli equilibri internazionali, si sfaldo l'unita dell'Asse e la fortezza Europa fu scalfita per la prima volta, in Sicilia, dagli Alleati. Mentre la gigantesca offensiva sovietica avviava l'accerchiamento di Hitler, l'iniziativa statunitense nel Pacifico costringeva il Giappone ad arroccarsi, in una strenua difesa dei territori conquistati. Grazie al rovesciamento degli equilibri militari e al controllo dei cieli e dei mari, gli Alleati poterono invadere la Sicilia, indurre la caduta di Mussolini, costringere l'Italia ad arrendersi e a schierarsi infine al loro fianco. Ma la crisi del 1943, scuotendo profondamente le societa in guerra, diede infine l'avvio in Italia, come gia in Europa, alla Resistenza, che recupero il patrimonio dell'antifascismo e si contrappose al nazismo e ai regimi di collaborazione sorti nei territori occupati: dalla Francia di Vichy alla Repubblica sociale italiana. Una storia, come dimostra il presente volume, ancora da studiare e capire.