Franco Anselmi

Franco Anselmi (1 March 1956 – 6 March 1978) was an Italian neofascist terrorist who was active in the organization Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari (Armed Revolutionary Nuclei). He was killed during an attempt to rob a gun shop in Rome.

Early life Franco Anselmi was born in Bologna on 1 March 1956, the youngest of three children. His family moved to Florence and then to Rome, where young Franco enrolled in the Kepler XI Liceo Scientifico.

At school, he was already expressing nationalist views and sympathy for far-right parties and organizations. In 1972, during his fourth year at the school, he was attacked by a group of left-wing students. The blows put Anselmi in a coma for three months. Upon his release from medical care, he had suffered permanent damage to his eyes that significantly lowered his visual ability. To compensate for the lost school time, he enrolled at the Monsignor Egisto Tozzi Institute, in the Monteverde area of Rome, where, in 1975, he made the acquaintance of young neo-fascist militants, such as Valerio Fioravanti, Massimo Carminati, and Alessandro Alibrandi. His visual disability led to him subsequently being "affectionately" called by friends and subsequent comrades-in-arms il cieco di Urbino ("the blind man of Urbino"), a reference to the University of Urbino in which he enrolled after finishing school.

Political militancy In 1975, Anselmi joined the youth organization of the extreme-right Italian Social Movement (Movimento Sociale Italiano; MSI), then led by Giorgio Almirante; he was active in the Portuense quarter of the city.

On 28 February 1975, he took part in the demonstration organized by MSI in Rome on the occasion of the trial for the so-called Primavalle fire: On 16 April 1973, militants from the extreme-left organization Potere Operaio (Workers' Power) had firebombed the home of Mario Mattei, MSI secretary for Primavalle. Although Mattei himself escaped without injuries, two of his six sons, Virgilio and Stefano, aged 22 and 8 respectively, died in the fire. The arsonists left a pamphlet on the pavement, signed "Tanas Brigade," that read "Class war - Death to the fascists - headquarters of the MSI - Mattei and Schiavoncino are hit by proletarian justice." (In a 2005 interview, Achille Lollo admitted his participation, alongside Marino Clavo and Manlio Grillo, all Potere Operaio members at the time, in the arson attack. )

The 1975 demonstration in Rome quickly turned violent with clashes breaking out between participants and leftist counter-demonstrators. The violence culminated in the killing of a Greek student, Mikis Mantakas, a member of the Fronte universitario d'azione nazionale (University Front of National Action), the student organization of MSI. Mantakas was a friend of Anselmi and his killing arguably further radicalized Anselmi.

Armed militancy In 1976, while attending a neofascist rally in Sezze during that year's general election campaign, Anselmi was involved in a fracas instigated by MSI deputy Sandro Saccucci that resulted in the death of Luigi Di Rosa, a young communist activist. started its "revolutionary struggle" through bank robberies and assassination attempts. The first time the group used the name Armed Revolutionary Nuclei (Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari, NAR) was on the occasion of the December 1977 firebombing of offices of political parties, two of the Christian Democrats and one of the Communists.

On 30 December 1977, they firebombed the entrance of Il Messaggero in via dei Serviti, while, on 4 January 1978, they entered the editorial office of Corriere della Sera, issued threats to the newspaper's employees, and threw Molotov cocktails, one of which, thrown by Anselmi, mistakenly hit the building superintendent who suffered extensive burns. On 28 February 1978, on the occasion of the third anniversary of the death of Mantakas, Anselmi participated, together with the Fioravanti brothers and others, in the assassination of Lotta Continua militant Roberto Scialabba in Don Bosco square. asking for personal jewelry and money. As he was exiting the door, he was shot by Daniele "Danilo" Centofanti, dying instantly.

In 2019, about a dozen sympathizers gave the fascist salute in a memorial ceremony at the place where 41 years before Anselmi had been killed. and anti-fascist organizations.