Giuseppe Pinelli

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Giuseppe Pinelli
Italy
DiedDecember 15, 1969(1969-12-15) (aged 41)
Milan, Italy
Cause of deathDefenestration
NationalityItalian
OccupationRailroad worker
MovementAnarchism

Giuseppe "Pino" Pinelli (21 October 1928 – 15 December 1969) was an Italian railroad worker and

anarchist, who died while being detained by the Polizia di Stato in 1969. Pinelli was a member of the Milan-based anarchist association named Ponte della Ghisolfa. He was also the secretary of the Italian branch of the Anarchist Black Cross. His death, believed by many to have been caused by members of the police, inspired Nobel Prize laureate Dario Fo to write his famous play titled Accidental Death of an Anarchist
.

Early life

Pinelli in 1955

Pinelli was born in Milan to Alfredo Pinelli and Rosa Malacarne.[1] His family was working-class in one of the poorest areas of post-World War I Milan. Although he had to work in many low-income jobs, such as waiter and warehouseman,[1] in order to make ends meet, he nonetheless found the time to read many books and become politically active throughout his youth.[1] Among other political activities, he also worked with the anarchist group that published the weekly paper Il Libertario (The Libertarian).[2]

In 1944, Pinelli was a member of the

libertarian thought.[3] In 1954, he found work as a railroad fitter. In 1955, Pinelli married Licia Rognini, whom he had met at an evening class of Esperanto.[2] During the 1960s, he continued anarchist activism. He organized young anarchists in the Gioventù Libertaria (Libertarian Youth) in 1962.[1] He helped found the Sacco and Vanzetti Anarchist Association in 1965. He founded the Ponte della Ghisolfa association (named after the nearby bridge) in 1968.[1]

Suspicious circumstances surrounding his death

The new memorial tag in memory of Pinelli; the old one is still there.[4]

On 12 December 1969, a bomb exploded at the

Piazza Fontana in Milan; it killed 17 people and injured 88.[5] Pinelli was picked up, along with other anarchists, for questioning regarding the attack.[2] Just before midnight on 15 December 1969, Pinelli was seen to fall to his death from a fourth-floor window of the Milan police station.[6] His death was widely believed to have been caused by members of the police.[7] Three police officers interrogating Pinelli, including Commissioner Luigi Calabresi, were put under investigation in 1971 for his death; legal proceedings concluded it was due to accidental causes,[8][9] citing active illness.[10][11][12]

Pinelli's name has since been cleared,

CIA informant who became a witness for the state and received immunity from prosecution.[14][nb 1] Calabresi was later killed by two shots from a revolver outside his home in 1972.[15] In 1988, former Lotta Continua leader Adriano Sofri was arrested with Ovidio Bompressi and Giorgio Pietrostefani for Calabresi's murder.[16] The charges against them were based on testimony provided 16 years later by Leonardo Marino, an ex-militant who confessed to the murder of Calabresi under order from Sofri. Claiming his innocence, Sofri was finally convicted after a highly contentious trial in 1997.[17]

In popular culture

Pinelli's death is the inspiration for

12 dicembre (1972) directed by Giovanni Bonfanti about Pinelli's death was based on an idea by Pier Paolo Pasolini and included an interview to Pinelli's mother and wife.[18] His death inspired the painting Funeral of the Anarchist Pinelli by Italian artist Enrico Baj.[2] In Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy (2012), Pinelli was portrayed by Pierfrancesco Favino.[19] Hints of his death are also in the songs "Asilo 'Republic'" (1980) by Vasco Rossi, "Quarant'anni" (1993) by the Modena City Ramblers, and "La ballata del Pinelli" (1969, with various versions), among others.[20][21]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The Italian justice uses a system of state witnesses, who are known as pentiti or collaboratori di giustizia (collaborators with justice) to fight against terrorism and the mafia.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Finzi, Paolo (December 2005). "Giuseppe 'Pino' Pinelli (1928–1969): the 17th victim of the Piazza Fontana bombing". Sicilia Libertaria. Retrieved 19 April 2024 – via Kate Sharpley Library.
  2. ^ a b c d e Heath, Nick (9 November 2006). "Pinelli, Giuseppe 'Pino', 1928–1969". Libcom.org. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  3. ^ "Giuseppe Pinelli Italian anarchist militant (1928–1969)". Daily Bleed's Anarchist Encyclopedia. 2008. Archived from the original on 25 January 2008 – via Recollection Books.
  4. ISBN 978-88-9070-609-7
    .
  5. ^ a b c "1969: Deadly bomb blasts in Italy". BBC News. 12 December 1969. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  6. ^
    ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  7. ^ Clark, Martin; Foot, John (20 July 1998). "Italy: Terrorism of Italy". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 17 July 2011. Updated through the years.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  8. ISSN 1122-1763
    .
  9. ^ Fleury, Matthew (1985). "Dario Fo". Bomb Magazine. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2024. The events upon which the play is based took place in 1969. A bomb exploded in the center of Milan, near the Duomo. Sixteen died. The police blamed the anarchists, one of whom, Giovanni Pinelli, they seized. Later on he was thrown from a window at police headquarters. There is considerable evidence that Pinelli's death was murder, not an accident as the police claimed, so the title Accidental Death of an Anarchist, is ironic. We are sure it was not an accident ... It was murder ... But this is the official police characterization of the event. The case was filed as an 'accidental death'.
  10. ISSN 2037-089X
    . Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  11. ^ Romeo, Ilaria (21 October 2022). "La storia di Giuseppe Pinelli, morto senza verità né giustizia". Collettiva (in Italian). Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  12. ^ Romeo, Ilaria (15 December 2022). "Il caso Pinelli, storia di un anarchico in cerca di giustizia". Collettiva (in Italian). Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  13. ^ "Trio get life for 1969 Milan bombing". CNN. 30 June 2001. Archived from the original on 16 January 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  14. ^
    ISSN 1756-3224
    . Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  15. ISSN 1122-1763
    .
  16. ISSN 0390-1076
    . Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  17. ISSN 2499-0485
    . Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  18. ^ "Pasolini in lotta: '12 dicembre'". Cinefilia Ritrovata (in Italian). 1 July 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  19. ^ Marcellan, Francesca (12 December 2023). "12 dicembre: la memoria di piazza Fontana e il film 'Romanzo di una strage'". Volere la luna (in Italian). Archived from the original on 13 December 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  20. ISBN 978-16-0486-315-4
    .
  21. ^ "Giuseppe Pinelli". Centro studi libertari (in Italian). 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2024.

External links

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