Battle of Valle Giulia

The Battle of Valle Giulia on March 1, 1968 was a street battle between demonstrating students and the Italian police in Rome . As part of the protests of the Italian movement of 68 ( Italian movimento sessantotto ), students tried to occupy the Faculty of Architecture of the University of La Sapienza , located in the Valle Giulia area , after the previous occupation had been disbanded by the police and the faculty had been surrounded by security forces.

The "movimento studentesco"

The “movimento studentesco” was created in the 1960s when the social movements multiplied and appeared in many countries. The most important and best known year was 1968. In countries like England or the United States there were enormous protests against the Vietnam War and the movements for human rights were at their height. There were also socialist movements in France, Italy and other countries.

In Italy, the Sessantotto ( 68 movement ) had its debut in 1966, when the first university faculty was filled on January 24, 1966 in Trento . The students had barricaded themselves in the Sociology Faculty and protested against the organization of the university and had suggested new options. This occupation came to an end when Florence suffered the great flood of November 4, 1966. Several students organized volunteer groups to help the city. These students came from universities all over Italy, so that a certain affiliation to a social student class formed.

In the same year the student magazine of the Liceo Parini La zanzara published a survey on sexual issues. This survey was called “Un dibattito sulla posizione della donna nella nostra società, cercando di esaminare i problemi del matrimonio, del lavoro femminile e del sesso” and was written by Marco de Poli, Claudia Beltramo Ceppi and Marco Sassano. The writers of the Zanzara and the rector of the institute, Daniele Mattalia, were charged with grave allegations of a religious nature . You were acquitted by the President of the Court of Justice of Milan, Luigi Bianchi D'Espinosa. However, other occupations took place in 1967, including the Statale di Pisa , the Palazzo Campana in Turin, the Cattolica di Milano and the architecture faculties in Milan, Rome and Naples.

The main leaders of the movements were: Mario Capanna, Salvatore Toscano and Luca Cafiero for Milan; Luigi Bobbio and Guido Viale for Turin; Massimo Cacciari, Toni Negri and Emilio Vesce for Padua; Franco Piperno and Oreste Scalzone for Rome; Gian Mario Cazzaniga and Adriano Sofri for Pisa. With the labor movements, the student movement formed the second major social movement in Italy.

history

Several protests in February 1968 took place in the architecture faculty at the University of Rome . Led by several lecturers, students had occupied the faculty several times and won political initiatives. This led the rector of the University Pietro Agostino D'Avack to call the police on February 29th. The Italian police evacuated and occupied the faculty in a short time.

Right and left students protest together against the Italian police

On Friday, March 1st, around 4,000 people gathered in Piazza di Spagna . This march split into two groups. The first group marched towards the university and the second group, which made up the majority of the demonstrators, marched towards Valle Giulia. Their goal was to take back the faculty. When they arrived on site, the police greeted them with an enormous barricade from the Italian police. While the confrontation was taking place, a small group of police broke up from the barricade in order to beat up an isolated student. This event increased the violence of the confrontation, as the demonstrators started throwing stones and objects at the police.

Only the police officers had loaded weapons. The official version claimed that it was so ordered by the government so as not to let the situation escalate. But, according to Radio Caserma and several right-wing journalistic sources, this problem was a normal condition of the Italian state police due to lack of funds for ammunition procurement. The clashes quickly escalated throughout the area outside the university. The demonstrators were well prepared and able to withstand the police attacks, unlike the previous protests. The fight against the police was led by several important movements, such as the “movimento studentesco” or the right-wing extremist movement “ Avanguardia Nazionale Giovanile ”, led by Stefano Delle Chiaie. The "Avanguardia Nazionale Giovanile" was also supported by parts of the " FUAN-Caravella ", the " Primula Goliardica " and the MSI . Among the participants in the Battle of Valle Giulia one could find important personalities who were with the demonstrators, such as: the director Paolo Pietrangeli (who dedicated a song to this event, "Valle Giulia", a symbol of the "movimento sessantottino" was), Giuliano Ferrara, Paolo Liguori, Aldo Brandirali, Ernesto Galli della Loggia or Oreste Scalzone. The future actor Michele Placido was found among the police . The actor later said these words about the events of Valle Giulia:

“[…] They were dressed in civil clothing, they spoke of the Vietnam War, an event that we did not understand and was far away, but they could protest. They were not migrants from the south (Italy), not children from poor families. When they shouted to us “morti di fame” or “servi del potere”, we couldn't understand the political slogan behind it, we took it personally. The clashes were classic battles, with the same weapons, our batons were ridiculous compared to today's. We were naive youngsters [...]. "

Several police vehicles were set on fire

Police officers from the Reparto Celere , the Italian riot police

After the clashes, the activists of the " Avanguardia Nazionale Giovanile " and FUAN occupied the law faculty, while others took the faculty of linguistics. The result of the fighting was 148 police officers injured, 478 students injured, 230 arrested, 8 police vehicles set on fire and 5 pistols stolen from agents.

From now on there was a split between the politically right-wing students who were barricaded in the university and the MSI . The secretary of the MSI Arturo Michelini officially refused to support the barricaded student. This crisis within the right-wing parties reached its climax on March 16, when Michelini sent the "Volontari Nazionali", led by Giorgio Almirante and Massimo Anderson, to clear the barricaded students. The tendency to involve the right-wing students failed. In contrast, the right-wing students came together with the left-wing students. The next tentative of the “Volontari Nazionali” was to storm the university, but were violently repulsed by the students.

Now clashes were taking place within the university itself between right-wing students and left-wing students who had received support from communist activists. The right-wing students had to barricade themselves in the law faculty and could only escape from the university with the help of the police. Eventually the university was cleared again by the Italian police and the Valle Giulia crisis came to an end.

The neo-fascist extremes that also took part in Valle Giulia went into hiding with the student movement. Years later this component became very active again during the " Anni di Piombo " in Italy.

Culture

Pier Paolo Pasolini wrote a famous poem about the events of Valle Giulia, entitled: Il PCI ai giovani . In it he expressed his sympathy for the Italian police, which is why he was isolated again within his party, the PCI . But Pasolini's words increased the attention of the Italian cultural scene to the extra-parliamentary movement in Italy, the "Movimentismo" . A current that arose with the Battle of Valle Giulia and developed further afterwards.

In 2009 the film "Il grande sogno" (Eng. "The Big Dream") was made, directed by Michele Placido , who deals with the street battle over the Faculty of Architecture in Rome. The film is based on the personal experiences of Michele Placido and tells the story of three young people before, during and after the events of Valle Giulia. Nicola is a young police officer from Apulia who wants to become an actor. He was ordered to infiltrate the student movement. The character Nicolas is inspired by the life story of Michele Placido. The second central figure is Laura, a student from Rome who comes from a rich and Catholic family, while the third figure is Libero, a charismatic student from Turin and the son of a worker at Fiat .

literature

• Antonio Benci, Giorgio Lima e Attilio Mangano, Il Sessantotto è finito nella rete, Pistoia, Centro di Documentazione Editrice, 2009.
• Sergio Bernardi, Giancarlo Salmini, Intorno al Sessantotto, Trento, Edizioni UCT, 2007.
• Fabrizio Billi (a cura di), Gli anni della rivolta. 1960–1980: prima, durante e dopo il '68. Milano, Punto Rosso, 2001, ISBN 88-83-51015-1 .
• Massimo Bontempelli, Il sessantotto. Un anno ancora da scoprire, Cagliari, CUEC, 2008.
• Alessandra Chiappano, Fabio Minazzi e Joan Baez, Anno domini 1968 l'immaginazione che voleva il potere, San Cesario di Lecce, Manni Editori, 2004, ISBN 88-8176-578-0 .
• Paolo Deotto, Sessantotto. Diario politicamente scorretto, Verona, Fede e Cultura, 2008.
• Diego Giachetti, Anni Sessanta comincia la danza. Giovani, capelloni, studenti ed estremisti negli anni della contestazione, Pisa, FSO Edizioni, 2002.
• Diego Giachetti, Venti dell'est. Il 1968 nei paesi del socialismo reale, Roma, manifestolibri, 2008.
• Diego Giachetti, Un sessantotto e tre conflitti. Generazione, genere, classe, Pisa, FSO Edizioni, 2008.
• Corrado Gnerre, La Rivoluzione nell'uomo, Verona, Fede e Cultura, 2008.
• Jan Kurz, Il movimento studentesco (1966–1968) visto da un punto lontano, Bologna, CLUEB, 1998.
• Valerio Magrelli, Il Sessantotto realizzato da Mediaset, Torino, Einaudi, 2011, ISBN 978-88-584-0515-4 .
• Carmen Pellegrino, sessantotto napoletano. Lotte studentesche e conflitti sociali tra conservatorismo e utopie, Sassari, Angelica Editore, 2008.
• Marco Revelli, Movimenti sociali e spazio politico, in Storia dell'Italia repubblicana, vol. II, La trasformazione dell'Italia: sviluppo e squilibri, t. 2, Istituzioni, movimenti, culture, Torino, Einaudi, 1995.
• Roberto Rota, Dalla parte di Dio. Dalle illusioni del '68 alla speranza cristiana, Verona, Fede e Cultura, 2008.
• Claudia Salaris e Pablo Echaurren, Controcultura in Italia. 1967–1977, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 1999.
• Mario Michele Merlino, E venne Valle Giulia, Edizioni Settimo Sigillo, Roma, 2008.
• Nicola Rao, La fiamma e la celtica, Sperling & Kupfer Editori, 2006
• Alessandro Gasparetti, La destra e il '68, Edizioni Settimo Sigillo, 2006

Individual evidence

1. ^ Sergio Bernardi, Giancarlo Salmini: Intorno al Sessantotto . Edizioni UCT, Trento 2007.
2. ^ Mario Michele Merlino: E venne Valle Giulia . Edizioni Settimo Sigillo, Roma 2008.
3. ^ La battaglia di Valle Giulia. In: il 68. Retrieved January 12, 2020 . 
4. ^ Nicola Rao: La fiamma e la celtica . Sperling & Kupfer Editori, 2006.
5. ↑ placido, da celerino a divo contestatore - “io, sbirro nel '68. aveva ragione pasolini, eravamo i veri proletari ”-“ gli studenti di oggi avrebbero mille ragioni, ma si sono alleati coi baroni… ” October 30, 2008, accessed on January 12, 2020 . 
6. ↑ Alessandro Gasparetti: La destra e il '68 . Edizioni Settimo Sigillo, 2006.
7. ^ 1 March 1968, 50 anni fa la Battaglia di Valle Giulia. Retrieved January 12, 2020 (Italian). 
8. ^ Boyd van Hoeij, Boyd van Hoeij: Il grande sogno. In: Variety. September 10, 2009, accessed January 12, 2020 .