Stefano e Virgilio Mattei – Noi non dimentichiamo
(Stefano and Virgilio Mattei – We Will Not Forget)
Stefano and Virgilio Mattei were the sons of Mario Mattei, a member of the Movimento Sociale Italiano (Italian Social Movement, MSI). They were killed in an arson attack on their home in Primavalle, a residential neighborhood in northwest Rome, which was perpetrated on April 16, 1973 by members of the far-left militant group Potere Operaio (Workers' Power). Though Mario, his wife, and three of his children were able to escape from the burning apartment, Virgilio, 22, and Stefano, 10, died in the inferno, which was quickly labeled the "Rogo di Primavalle" (Primavalle Fire) by the Italian press. Unable to jump from the balcony of the family's third-floor apartment to safety below, Virgilio died at the window. His death at the threshold between public and private spaces was captured in a photograph taken by the photojournalist Antonio Monteforte, and was reproduced the following day on the front pages of many of Italy's dailies (King 2019: 1-2).
The first trial for the Primavalle perpetrators took place in 1975 amidst widespread political violence in the streets of Rome. Among of the victims of these clashes between far-right and far-left militants was the Greek medical student and member of the MSI's Fronte della Gioventù (Youth Front, FdG), Mikis Mantakas, whose "martyrdom" is commemorated in a poster featured in this collection. Achille Lollo, Marino Clavo, and Manlio Grillo were acquitted for manslaughter and arson on the grounds of insufficient evidence – a verdict reversed at their second trial eleven years later when the trio were sentenced to eighteen years' imprisonment. Lollo was the only one present at the first trial because Clavo and Grillo had fled the country immediately after the attacks. None were present at the second. None served a day of their sentences.
This poster was produced to promote a ceremony which was held in Primavalle on the forty-sixth anniversary of the Mattei brothers' deaths (see also Figs. 1 and 2). As was the case with the April 16, 2019 ceremony, this annual commemorative ritual typically involves a procession through the neighborhood's streets and culminates in the gathering of participants beneath the window at which Virgilio died. Typically, the leader of the ceremony stands in front of participants, who are organized in tight military-style rows, and shouts out the names of Stefano and Virgilio. Participants respond with the cry "Presente!" (Present!) – a common mnemonic device deployed during Benito Mussolini's twenty years in power which signified the imagined eternality of the Blackshirt militiamen who were killed in clashes with left-wingers in Italy during the Red Biennium uprisings (1919-20) or during the regime's various military conquests during the 1930s (Figs. 3 and 4).
Though the form of the poster changes from year to year, it typically includes three common elements. First, a commitment to memory – in this case the declaration "Noi non dimentichiamo" (We Do Not Forget). Second, the Celtic Cross is incorporated – a symbol that has been co-opted by neo-Nazi, neo-fascist, and white supremacist movements globally, and which is prohibited in Italy for display in political contexts, though it remains a religious symbol in some parts of northern Italy. Third, the Mattei brothers' posters typically feature a photograph of the charred exterior of the family apartment on Via Bibbiena. Oftentimes the photograph is clear enough to make out the white sheet which was laid out over Virgilio's blackened torso, reminding the viewer of the domestic setting, as well as the spectacle, of these macabre deaths. The apartment's window frame has been incorporated into commemorative posters for the Mattei brothers since the 1970s, serving as an index of political violence, similar to the frozen clock at Bologna station (Cherrygarden 2020).
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