1975

March 13, Milan
Sergio Ramelli, 18 years old, student

Sergio Ramelli was an 18-year-old Milanese boy who, like many of his peers, went to school and went out with his friends; he liked football and played it at neighborhood level and was an Inter fan. He was the second child of a family made up of his father Mario, his mother Anita, his 20-year-old brother Luigi and his eight-year-old sister Simona. Sergio’s life is peaceful, alongside his girlfriend Flavia.
But like many of his peers, Sergio Ramelli was involved in politics and he did it in a serious manner, since he was a member of the Youth Front, the youth organization of the MSI, for which he was responsible for the area where he lived, Citta Studi. Ramelli was a “comrade” and a “fascist”: a “comrade” for his party friends, a “fascist” for those on the left.
Although he was right-wing, he had shoulder-length hair, an unusual look for that political party. He was not a fanatic, but he was against abuse and little freedom of thought, as her mother often repeated, towards those who thought like him.
Ramelli, in the 1974/1975 school year, attended the “Molinari” industrial technical institute, chemical major. The school had (and still has) its headquarters in via Crescenzago, about 3 km away from the Ramelli house and was an institution characterized by many students close to the left and extra-parliamentary movements, primarily Avanguardia Operaia. Sergio had a hard life, being the subject of harassment. Many knew that he was a MSI militant, many did not.
One morning some classmates entered V J, Ramelli’s class, started talking about politics, picked up the boy and took him outside, where he was insulted and beaten without anyone lifting a finger: Ramelli had to be “tried”. Although many did not lift a finger in defense of the boy for fear of retaliation.
In January, the literature teacher, Giorgio Melitton, assigned a topic on current events as a class assignment. Ramelli told you about the murder of two militants of the MSI of Padua, Giuseppe Mazzola and Graziano Giralucci, killed on 17 June of the previous year inside the party headquarters by a commando of the Red Brigades made up of five people (two of whom were perpetrators) . In the papers, the young man spoke of the fact that the Red Brigades had committed their first political crime and no one in Italy (apart from the MSI themselves) had expressed condolences for the killing of the two Paduan militants of the Tricolor Flame party. Ramelli knew he was touching a sore spot, but he went his way.
Seeing as 1975 was a hot year, some of Ramelli’s classmates (and institute) took a step further: they made the essay disappear (stealing it from a classmate who had to deliver it to the teacher) and posted it on the institute noticeboard where it usually the various communications of the school were highlighted. Next to the theme, prominently displayed, was the writing “This is the theme of a fascist”: the whole school now knew that Sergio Ramelli was a “fascist” and must be treated as such. And to think that Ramelli had only been active in politics for two months.
Ramelli was even more harassed, mocked and threatened. On 13 January 1975 he was forcibly forced, as he left school, by at least 80 people, to clean up the fascist writings on the walls of the “Molinari” with paint. In the action where he was insulted, he was also photographed. Obviously he wasn’t the one who defaced the walls, but the kids who were there didn’t care. They were interested in punishing the “fascist” Ramelli.
Also following this, on 3 February 1975 the boy decided to leave school (..) he opted for a private institute where he could finish the year and obtain his high school diploma. The parents were aware of what their son “professed” politically and feared for his safety, but he always told them not to worry.
Then, on March 9, 1975, he and his brother remained locked in a bar because there were about twenty people waiting for them outside who wanted to beat them up. None of the “Molinari” leaders ever took Sergio’s defense, partly out of fear and partly so that they agree with the treatment reserved for him. Not to mention the fact that there were no judicial investigations or police interventions, who were never called to defend the boy.
Yet, despite everything, Sergio remained faithful to his ideals: he did not leave the “Front”, he did not lose contact with his party friends and continued his life as a MSI militant in spite of the dangers that being “fascist” could entail . Sergio Ramelli was strong, he never let himself be intimidated by the situation and never took a step back.
Until 1pm on Thursday 13 March 1975 arrived.
He was returning home, to via Amadeo in Milan; having parked his scooter not far away, in via Paladini, he set off towards home.
At number 15 of via Paladini, he was assaulted by a group of non-parliamentary communists of the workers’ vanguard armed with English keys, and with these hit several times at the head; as a result of the blows he lost consciousness and was left dead on the ground. The attackers, including Marco Costa, Giuseppe Ferrari Bravo, Claudio Colosio, Antonio Belpiede, Brunella Colombelli, Franco Castelli, Claudio Scazza and Luigi Montinari. They caused numerous traumas to the victim, who died on April 29, more than a month and a half after the assault.
The perpetrators were identified ten years after the incident and, after an initial conviction for pre-intentional murder at first instance, they were convicted of voluntary homicide at the end of the three degrees of judgment of the trial, which lasted from 1987 to 1990.