Alberto Giaquinto – Nel suo nome avanza la rivoluzione

(Alberto Giaquinto – In Your Name the Revolution Advances)

Alberto Giaquinto – Nel suo nome avanza la rivoluzione This poster was produced to commemorate Alberto Giaquinto, who died during a violent Youth Front demonstration in 1979 on the first anniversary of the Acca Larenzia killings. It features a quote from the 2004 film Alexander which evokes fearlessness and warrior virtues. The poster includes Giaquinto's name, birthdate, and the date of his passing alongside a Celtic Cross symbol and a Roman centurion, which draws upon a repertoire of classical warrior imagery that is typical of both interwar Fascism and contemporary far-right aesthetics. Source: Photograph by Brian J Griffith (December 28, 2020).

Seventeen-year-old Alberto Giaquinto died on January 10, 1979 following a Fronte della Gioventù (Youth Front, FdG) demonstration on the first anniversary of the Acca Larenzia killings which quickly turned violent. Giaquinto was shot by an undercover police officer, Alessio Speranza, as the former fled from the local headquarters for the Christian Democrats in Rome's Prenestino-Centocelle neighborhood. Speranza shot Giaquinto in the back from the passenger seat of his vehicle, which was being driven by another police officer. Giaquinto died in hospital a few hours later.

Twelve days after the shooting, the MSI's Secretary, Giorgio Almirante, stood in the Chamber of Deputies and accused Rome's Chief of Police of being an accomplice to Giaquinto's slaying for having "tarnish[ed] the image of a murdered young man" (2013). Almirante continued by complaining that, despite the contrary findings of a forensic examination, the police continued to insist that Giaquinto was armed and had, in fact, fired the first shot.

Produced in 2019, the poster includes a quote from the film Alexander (2004), a historical drama based on the life of the ancient Macedonian general and emperor, Alexander the Great. These words were selected to encourage fearlessness, to highlight the virtues of ancient warrior culture, and to celebrate the willingness of warriors to sacrifice themselves for a higher purpose:

Some of you
and myself perhaps
will not live to see the sun
rise beyond those mountains,
but I say to you what
every warrior
knows from the dawn
of time:
conquer your fear
and I promise you
you will conquer
death

Giaquinto's name appears at the top of the poster, alongside his date of birth and the date of the fortieth anniversary of his death. The proclamation "nel suo nome avanza la rivoluzione" (the revolution advances in his name) appears at the bottom, along with the collective signature of Giaquinto's anonymous "Camerati" (Comrades). In the poster's bottom-right-hand corner, viewers are confronted by a Celtic Cross symbol, a symbol that has been co-opted by neo-Nazi, neo-fascist, and white supremacist movements globally.

The text is overlaid upon an image of a Roman centurion, depicted from a bottom-up perspective, which highlights his physical strength and weaponry. This appeal to the imagery of classical warriors is typical of both interwar Fascism's and the contemporary far right's obsession with the aesthetics and mythologies of the ancient Roman Empire. The font used on the poster is in the style of a medieval blackletter script, and demonstrates the far right's reverence for notions of national heritage and "Italian" folkic traditions (see also Fig. 1).

Images

Alberto Giaquinto – Nel suo nome avanza la rivoluzione This poster was produced to commemorate Alberto Giaquinto, who died during a violent Youth Front demonstration in 1979 on the first anniversary of the Acca Larenzia killings. It features a quote from the 2004 film *Alexander* which evokes fearlessness and warrior virtues. The poster includes Giaquinto's name, birthdate, and the date of his passing alongside a Celtic Cross symbol and a Roman centurion, which draws upon a repertoire of classical warrior imagery that is typical of both interwar Fascism and contemporary far-right aesthetics. Source: Photograph by Brian J Griffith (December 28, 2020).

Fig. 1 A collection of "Alberto Giaquinto – In Your Name the Revolution Advances" posters on a municipal billboard near Rome's Piazza Balduina. Source: Photograph by Brian J Griffith (January 10, 2019).

Fig. 2 The Pino Rauti Study Center commemorates the forty-third anniversary of Alberto Giaquinto's death via their Instagram account. | Caption: "Alberto Giaquinto – Present." Source: Centro Studi Pino Rauti, "In ricordo di Alberto, per non dimenticare," *Instagram* (January 10, 2022).

Fig. 3 Massimo Ruspandini – a Brothers of Italy deputy in the Chamber of Deputies, representing the Frosinone constituency – commemorates the fortieth anniversary of Alberto Giaquinto's death via their Instagram account. | Caption: "Alberto Giaquinto was in his third year of high school when he was assassinated in January 1979. He had been demonstrating to commemorate the massacre that had taken place the previous year at [Via] Acca Larenzia. Thus, one can consider him the fifth victim [of the Acca Larenzia massacre]. It should be remembered that, a few months after the massacre, the father of Francesco [Ciavatta], no longer able to endure the pain, killed himself by ingesting a bottle of muriatic acid. Alberto Present." Source: Massimo Ruspandini, "#accalarenzia #albertogiaquinto," *Instagram* (January 10, 2019).

Fig. 4 Student Action – one of the Brothers of Italy's two far-right youth groups – commemorates the forty-fifth anniversary of Alberto Giaquinto's death via their Instagram account. Source: Azione Studentesca, "10 gennaio 1979," *Instagram* (January 9, 2024).

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Citation Information

Unaffiliated or Unknown, “Alberto Giaquinto – Nel suo nome avanza la rivoluzione,” Where Monsters Are Born: Documenting a Fascist Revival in the Streets of Rome, 2018-2019, accessed October 22, 2024, https://wheremonstersareborn.com/items/show/11.

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