1973

Virgilio Mattei, 22 years old, student
Stefano Mattei, 10 years old, student
The Primavalle Fire

Virgilio Mattei, 22 years old, who together with his brother Stefano, aged 8, was burned alive while clinging to the windowsill of his house on the third floor, staircase D, in the complex of public buildings in via Bernardo da Bibbiena 33.
Their father was Mario Mattei, secretary of the Giarabub section, that of Primavalle, of the Italian Social Movement, the heir of the fascist party. Virgil was also a militant of the MSI. That night someone poured liters of petrol on the door of the apartment in via Bernardo da Bibbiena. Mario Mattei managed to get out and then helped his 15-year-old daughter Lucia to lower herself onto the balcony downstairs. Silvia, aged 19, threw herself from the kitchen veranda: she hit her head on the railing of the second floor balcony. Clothes lines broke his fall. Two other children, three-year-old Giampaolo and nine-year-old Antonella, managed to escape through the door of the house with their mother Annamaria. His sons Stefano and Virgilio remained there, looking out the window to be able to breathe. From below people shouted at them to jump. The petrol poured on the door had also filtered into the house through an inclined plane. The house was small, just over 50 square meters. The reports were conflicting on the quantity of petrol used: from two to five litres. Furniture, beds, clothes immediately caught fire. When the firefighters managed to put out the flames at 4 in the morning, Virgilio and Stefano Mattei were already dead. Outside the house, sheets of squared paper were found, joined by adhesive tape. It read: «Tanas Brigade, class war. Death to the fascists, the MSI headquarters hit by proletarian justice.” Giuseppe Tanas was a 24-year-old worker killed by the police during a demonstration in December 1947 in the Primavalle district. The prosecutor Domenico Sica investigated what happened on the night of April 16th and identified three members of Potere Operaio (the organization founded by Toni Negri, Oreste Scalzone and Franco Piperno) as the possible perpetrators of the fire. They were the same ones who, within the organization, made themselves known as the Tanas group, those from Primavalle. Three weeks after the attack, arrest orders were issued against Achille Lollo, Marino Clavo and Manlio Grillo, all of Potere Operaio and the Tanas group. Lollo ended up in prison, Grillo and Clavo escaped.
The extra-parliamentary left (this is how the groups to the left of the Communist Party and outside Parliament were defined at the time) implemented a counter-information campaign according to which, against all evidence, it was other militants who set the fire at the Mattei house of the Missina Giarabub section due to internal disagreements.
The thesis had no substance and yet it found a lot of space. It even led to the publication of a book, published by Savelli, Primavalle, burning behind closed doors in which, with imaginative theses, it was claimed that the instigators and perpetrators of the fire were to be found within the Giarabub section of the MSI. Lanfranco Pace, an important exponent of Potere Operaio, said years later:
«We were forced to take on the defense of Lollo, Grillo and Clavo despite their guilt and so we mounted a counter-investigation. Why? Because there were no alternatives. I don’t remember such understanding nor such close solidarity as the time we preached falsehood.” The trial began in February 1975. While one of the hearings was taking place in court, outside, in Piazzale Clodio in Rome, there were very violent clashes between left-wing and right-wing militants: a student of Greek origin, a militant of the university organization of the MSI, the Fuan (University Front for National Action), was shot dead.
The public prosecutor requested that Lollo, Grillo and Clavo be sentenced to life imprisonment for arson and manslaughter. The jury decided on acquittal with the formula, which no longer exists today, of insufficient evidence. Once released from prison, Lollo, like the other two defendants, fled abroad. The appeal process was canceled in 1981 because it was discovered that one of the lay judges was suffering from a “depressive-type syndrome”. The second appeal ended with the conviction of the three defendants for arson, double manslaughter, use of explosive material and incendiary material. In 1987 the Court of Cassation confirmed the convictions. In 2005 the Court of Appeal of Rome declared the crime time barred.