On January 7, 1978, five members of the Movimento Sociale Italiano's (Italian Social Movement, MSI) youth group, the Fronte della Gioventù (Youth Front, FdG), were ambushed by five Lotta Continua (Ongoing Struggle) militants in front of one of the MSI's social centers in Rome's Tuscolano neighborhood (Fig. 1). Franco Bigonzetti was shot dead at the scene, and Francesco Ciavatta died in an ambulance shortly afterwards. Later on that day, a large demonstration in the courtyard outside of the neighborhood headquarters on Via Acca Larenzia quickly turned violent. Following a confrontation between Roman police officers and a number of far-right demonstrators, shots were fired into the crowd. A third young man, Stefano Recchioni, was struck by a police bullet. He died two days later.
The text at the top of this poster reads "Dal popolo gli eroi" (Heroes [Come] from the People), with the words "Acca" and "Larenzia" separated by a Celtic Cross – a symbol that has been co-opted by neo-Nazi, neo-fascist, and white supremacist movements globally – appearing at the bottom. The words "heroes" and "Acca Larenzia" are linked through a flame-like colorway, leaving little doubt as to the status of the Acca Larenzia dead in Italian neo-fascist collective memory. Although it is no longer affiliated with the dissolved MSI, Via Acca Larenzia 28 remains a far-right social center and its address is included at the bottom of the poster alongside the group's Facebook handle, demonstrating the importance of memory to the Italian neo-fascist community's recruitment and socialization strategies.
Posters honoring the Acca Larenzia "martyrs" frequently draw upon the recognizable aesthetic codes of fascist notions of sacrifice through two recurring design features: 1. flames and 2. evocations of upward motion. This poster is no different. Thor, one of many Norse symbols co-opted by the contemporary far right, is depicted in the bottom third of the poster, raising an ax, which reaches into the poster's top-left border. This depiction of Thor has also been incorporated into a mural painted on the exterior of the former MSI center on Via Acca Larenzia, beneath a plaque erected in 2012 which describes Bigonzetti, Ciavatta, and Recchioni as "assassinated by communist hatred and by servants of the state" (Fig. 2). Behind Thor is a large black arrow pointing skywards. Analyzed together, the combination of flames and upward motion can be interpreted as a message of virility and national renewal, following a period of collective suffering – a symbolic narrative which places this poster firmly within the aesthetic traditions of Italian far-right martyrdom. As this poster makes clear, death is an act of sacrifice which ultimately, and inevitably, leads to ideological redemption and "victory."
Every year on January 7, Rome's neo-fascists commemorate the deaths of Bigonzetti, Ciavatta, and Recchioni. Informally organized by CasaPound Italia (House of [Ezra] Pound Italy, CPI), this annual ceremony involves a procession through the surrounding neighborhood's streets and culminates in the gathering of participants in front of the former MSI social center on Via Acca Larenzia (Figs. 3 and 4). 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 Bigonzetti, Ciavatta, and Recchioni (Fig. 5). 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 (Fig. 6).
In addition to the CPI-led ceremony, members of Forza Nuova (New Force, FN) and Comunità Politica di Avanguardia (Vanguard Political Community) gather annually in Rome's Verano Cemetery to honor Italy's various far-right "martyrs." Similar to the Via Acca Larenzia commemoration, this ceremony involves a procession through the cemetery, stopping to honor those deemed as part of Italy's right-wing heritage, including the Risorgimento-era patriot, poet, and writer of Italy's national anthem, Gofredo Mameli (2024), neo-fascist victims of the Years of Lead (1968-82), and the 1933 Chapel of Fascist Martyrs, where the commemorative procession ends. "For years now, we have chosen the Verano chapel as a symbol of all comrades who died on the path of honor," remarked Vincenzo Nardulli, a leading figure in Rome's neo-fascist community, explaining his group's decision not to hold their January 7 ceremony at the site of the Acca Larenzia killings. Nardulli and Giuliano Castellino, both FN operatives, were sentenced to five years and six months' imprisonment in 2020 after attacking two Express journalists who were documenting the January 7, 2019 Acca Larenzia commemoration (2019a; 2019b; Federici 2020).
Beyond Italy's openly neo-fascist community, a number of the country's prominent politicians regularly commemorate the Acca Larenzia "strage" (massacre). Indeed, every year Giorgia Meloni (Meloni 2021), along with her party Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy, FdI), circulate Internet graphics and physical posters in Italy honoring the "fallen" at Via Acca Larenzia, placing Meloni and her party firmly within the commemorative practices of Italy's neo-fascist community (Figs. 6, 7, and 8).
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