1979
April 19, Rome
Ciro Principessa, 23 years old, student

Originally from a poor family in Naples, the second of eight siblings, Ciro had a difficult adolescence. At 17, he was convicted of theft and later judged for evading military service. Moving to Rome at the age of 15 and joining the FGCI in 1976, he actively engaged in political activism, participating in initiatives aimed at the redevelopment of the Villa Certosa area and the establishment of a neighborhood’s popular library. On April 19, 1979, while working as a librarian at the PCI section “Nino Franchellucci” in Via di Torpignattara, Claudio Minetti, a young neo-fascist militant from the MSI section of Acca Larenzia and the son of Stefano Delle Chiaie’s partner, entered the library and asked to borrow a book. When Principessa asked for identification, Minetti ran away with a book in hand. Principessa chased him, and during the pursuit, Minetti stabbed him in the chest. Several hours later, Principessa passed away in the hospital. In the trial for Principessa’s murder, Claudio Minetti was judged mentally ill and sentenced to ten years in a criminal asylum, later reduced to four years in prison.