what you're hearing now is a song you may be familiar with since 2017 bella ciao has exploded in popularity mainly due to the netflix series money heist it sounds innocent enough a cheery marching song that makes you want to dance but very few people know the song's dark history originally it began as a song of protest in the late 1800s sung by northern italian farmers dissatisfied with their poor working conditions however its modern interpretation wouldn't come into being until 1943 when it was adopted by the anti-fascist italian partisans as their anthem the lyrics were modified instead of singing about mosquitoes and harsh working life the partisans sung of death and the struggle for freedom against mussolini and the nazi occupation bella ciao would go on to inspire the partisans to success in liberating italy in 1945 it is here with this song that i believe the modern italian mindset was moulded an idea of struggle perseverance and liberation would embed itself in the minds of all those in italy a sense of pride for the struggle for freedom however while these ideas of liberation and struggle were adopted by everyone in italy some decided they would adopt one more aspect of the famous song the idea of violence the idea of conflict and dying for a cause it was this that sowed seeds of division in italy in the following years and would cause them to explode in what would become known simply as giliani di pyombo the years of lead [Music] pictures taken in milan and only just released here show the last of the hands to leave that italian city they had quite a send-off too milan was in a state of the wildest excitement at about this time for partisans had just killed mussolini the bodies of the ex-dictator his mistress and fellow fascists were left lying in the square and the enraged italians took the opportunity of kicking them and flinging rubbish on them april 28 1945 is the day italy's recent history begins the day benito mussolini was killed a date that signaled the end of fascist rule and the beginning of the italian republic conditions in italy during this time were beyond devastating the nazi occupation had killed the italian economy and their retreat followed a brutal scorched earth strategy that left much of italy's infrastructure almost totally destroyed conditions in the eyes of the united states were perfectly set for a communist takeover and so they began a battle for influence italy's position between the ussr and the west meant a communist takeover would be absolutely unacceptable to the us and so the marshall plan began pouring funds into the country at the same time the new government now a republic rather than a monarchy devised a new constitution its primary aim was the prevention of another dictatorial takeover it was written by what was known as the new constituent assembly composed of people from all sides of the political spectrum there were christian democrats socialists communists liberals right-wing populists and monarchists all voting to institute a new constitution that guaranteed equality and freedom for all it was the bedrock of the new italian republic but meanwhile in 1946 there was much discussion about what to do with those imprisoned from the war both from the former fascist regime as well as the italian partisans who fought against it opinion was split between the two most prevalent political parties the communist party believed all fascists should remain in prison and serve whatever sentences they were given the christian democrats believe that the italian partisans mainly those with communist allegiances should remain in prison what followed from this split was a somewhat controversial compromise the tagliati amnesty this pardoned and reduced sentences for both fascist war criminals and anti-fascist partisans alike death sentences became life in prison life in prison became 30 years and all sentences above five years were reduced by two-thirds anything less than that was piland it was intended as a step away from italy's role in the war and its years of fascism something which most saw is necessary however less publicized events brought these pardons even further from 1947 to 1953 even those who had had their sentences reduced in the tagliati amnesty had their sentences reduced even further some were even pardoned fully this as some argue has led to italian amnesia regarding the war as well as to the suffering it brought it sent a signal to extremists that one day we made pardon you setting the stage for division the pardoning of the anti-fascist partisans was particularly important although they had fought against the tyrannical regime and had liberated italy from fascism many of them were radical far leftists with no issue using violence to pursue their goals combine this with the fact that communism was a fairly mainstream ideology in italy at the time and you can see how troubling it was it was the massive prominence and general acceptance of communism that began to radicalize both those on the far left and the far right giving rise to extremist elements and the inevitability of violence from 1946 to 1992 there were three main political parties that dominated italian government however there are only two you really need to be aware of the christian democrats and the communist party as well as this there were many far-right parties taking shape the most important one being the italian social movement or the msi who occupied seats in the italian parliament it is within the msi that the roots of far-right italian terrorism can be found not because of the party's promotion of it but because of their opposition to it in the mid 50s the msi opposing democracy and participation in government were frustrated that this surprisingly wasn't working so the party began a push to become democratically respected by finally participating and operating within the institutions of government as you can imagine the fascists were not too comfortable with that and the party split in three many remained in the msi supportive of the new policies but the more radical members left to found ordinary nuovo new order in 1956 and the national vanguard in 1960 two groups committed to both figuratively and literally fighting democracy and communism laying the groundwork for far-right terrorism in the future on the other hand left-wing terrorism would not manifest itself until much later left-wing violence that began during world war ii subsided when it ended but came back in 1960 during the tenure of prime minister fernando tambroni tambroni was a strong hardline social conservative of the christian democrats some even argued he was borderline authoritarian someone the italian left considered an enemy in 1960 the italian liberal party withdrew from his coalition threatening his majority government with few options for allies tambrony attempted to ally himself with the msi in their place and began appeasing them his most controversial appeasement was to allow the msi to hold its national congress in genoa a city renowned for being one of the capitals of the anti-fascist resistance nationwide protests from the italian left soon ensued and were met with force from the police turning them into riots and leading to tambrony's resignation his response to these protests would cause a buildup of support for far-left forces the 60s in italy more broadly saw the build-up of division and dissatisfaction with the government the economy was becoming increasingly industrialized and the culture was modernizing alongside creating a new generation of italians who desired change and caused them to support both radicals on the left and the right in far greater numbers [Music] name some major historical events from 1968 and you'll be left with no shortage this was the year of counter counter-culture and protests internationally the year when these things began seeing more violence in the u.s the civil rights movement was turning away from martin luther king's peaceful demeanor and toward the radical violence of the black panthers in czechoslovakia students revolted against the communist dictatorship in the prague spring demanding rights and better education in northern ireland the first civil rights march took place seeking equality for catholics and setting the stage for the troubles in italy it was no different the 1968 movement was started in italy led mainly by working class students the most astonishing aspect of it was the fact that these students were from both the right and the left and stood in solidarity seeking better social welfare education and health care the most infamous of the movement's protests occurred on the 1st of march at rome university when right and left-wing students attempted to occupy the campus huge violence ensued resulting in over 600 injuries and 200 arrests by the time it was broken up by police protests continued from 1968 to 1969 primarily led by the left including the hot autumn strikes and the occupation of the fiat mirafori factory in turin what this movement achieved was not the increase of equality or any of the other goals they had set out instead it only achieved the successful creation of a highly politicized generation of italians and the ramp up of violence [Music] 19th november 1969 milan the trade unions have called a general strike and the workers oblige they meet in the lyric theater to discuss their plan of action meanwhile in support of the workers the union of italian communists has called a demonstration a march through milan attended by communists socialists anarchists and everyone else on the radical left fearing an outbreak of violence the italian police has dispatched armored cars to follow the crowd one of these cars occupied by four officers is driven by 22 year old antonio anaruma someone passionate about his job who has only been serving for under two years the demonstration progresses becoming increasingly rowdy until it reaches the lyric theater where the workers are still discussing their plans for the strike here is where the protest turns violent and an unstoppable chain reaction begins the protesters begin attacking the police vehicles the police retaliate with tear gas the tear gas lands in the entrance of the theater the workers on the point of suffocation evacuate the building hastily two are hit by the police vehicles in the chaos seriously injuring them the police continue their attempt to control trying to disperse the crowd with their cars antonio carrying out his duties here's his window smash and then nothing a group of protesters broke into a nearby construction site from there they began hurling steel pipes at the police one of these pipes crashed into antonio and aruma's car and penetrated his skull he was killed instantly the car he was driving was sent crashing into another injuring almost a dozen officers he was posthumously awarded a gold medal for a civil merit but nothing would be the same after antonio's death he was the first of many victims to come in the years ahead [Music] all tensions that have been building up finally resulted in the inevitable chaos in 1969 terrorism became commonplace committed by both the far left and the far right and created what some refer to as a civil war each side kept fairly consistent with their tactics for the far left this meant carrying out kidnappings and assassinations of political targets politicians judges police and the like the far right on the other hand were less discriminate for them terror tactics were the style and their targets were thus mainly civilian carried out through bombings on the 12th of december 1969 the fascist new order carried out their first of many and bombed the hq of the national agricultural bank in piazza fontana milan killing 17 and injuring 88. that same day three more bombs went off in rome and milan the reaction to the attack also showed a new trend beginning to take shape although the attack was perpetrated by new order far-left anarchists were blamed and over 80 were subsequently and falsely arrested one of these was an anarchist rail worker called giuseppe pinelli who during his detention fell from a fourth floor window and died the police were immediately put under investigation including commissioner luigi calabresi who led the interrogation after a lengthy investigation all police were exonerated including calabrese but this outcome was unacceptable to the far left who firmly believed they were responsible in 1972 three years after the incident luigi calabrese was assassinated by far-left militants shot dead on the streets of milan on his way to work like antonio and aruma before him calabresi's death only served to ramp up the violence that same year new order carried out the pityano bombing killing three police officers what was special about this attack was the way it was carried out by killing police targets rather than their usual civilian ones new order made the attack look like it came from the left and that was exactly the point the petiano bombing was intended as a false flag to force the government to declare a state of emergency and become more authoritarian but what was frightening and telling about this attack was that members of the italian military and intelligence services provided assistance to the perpetrators helping some of the leaders escape to spain afterwards violence seemed out of control april 1973 far-left terrorists burned down the home of an msi leader killing his two sons aged 22 and eight may 1973 a police memorial to luigi calabresi was bombed by an anarchist killing four and injuring 45 may 1974 an anti-fascist demonstration was bombed by new order killing eight and injuring 102. the next month in june 1974 there was another left killing of two msi members in padua but this one was different it wasn't carried out by any previously known organization this one was new and would grow exponentially after this attack their name was brigato rosse the red brigades ask any italian about the years of lead and their first thought will be of the red brigades they were born in august 1970 founded by renato curcio and margherita cargo students at the university of trento who would later marry alongside alberto franceschini from 1970 to 74 they remained fairly obscure known only to the police and intelligence as they carried out kidnappings of those labeled fascists for ransom it wasn't until the two msi members were murdered in 1974 that they started to garner their infamous reputation following the attack founders renato curcio and alberto francischini were arrested and sentenced to eight years curcio was broken out of prison soon after in an operation led by his wife kagol and brought to a safe house but his freedom was short-lived as police managed to find them in the fighting margarita cargo was killed and renato curcio recaptured in their absence a new man took their place a man famed within the organization for his determination to fight fascism as well as his exceptional organizational skills his name was mario moretti and would become the most important face of the italian far left the red brigades though a terrorist organization were popular with many working-class italians unlike the far-right terror groups who targeted innocent civilians the red brigades were seen as soldiers fighting a war against a system that had persecuted them for so long taking the fight only to those who were responsible they never targeted civilians only police politicians judges lawyers and anyone else connected to government that weren't on the left their violence was still just that violence and their targets were still mostly innocent but this stance earned them huge favor with many in italy this supports caused membership in the group to grow immensely after 1974 allowing them to carry out more and more attacks while the red brigades had numbers and public support on their side those on the far right had the italian elite support for fascist groups and operations was low among average italians but high among those high up in italian society many in the military and intelligence services as we've already seen were hugely sympathetic towards them most of their bombings and attacks couldn't have been successfully carried out without this support sympathy for the italian far-right was not solely contained to italy either notably the cia favored a relaxed position towards them in july 1974 hardline anti-communist politician edgardo sonjo met with the cia station chief in rome he told them of a coup he had been helping to plan with the fascists and asked that if it went ahead what the american position would be towards it the cia station chief replied simply the united states would support any initiative tending to keep the communists out of government what the u.s was assisting italian intelligence and infiltrating left-wing terror groups they were effectively telling the right-wing terror groups that they could do what they liked from 1974 to 78 approximately 26 kidnappings and murders were perpetrated by both sides but in 1978 italy would be forever changed by one man aldo morrow born in maglia southeast italy in 1916 moved to barrie after he graduated high school in toronto in 1934 there he attended the local university studying law before he began his political career in 1943. he began political life as a staunch anti-fascist initially favoring socialism but soon aligning himself with the christian democrats after mussolini was toppled he was elected to the newly established chamber of deputies and held various ministerial positions from 1953 to 1963 in 1963 he was elected to the top and became prime minister during his tenure he achieved massive success and popularity he expanded social security increased the minimum wage and improved many other aspects of the italian welfare system his term lasted until he was forced to resign in 1968 subsequently becoming minister for foreign affairs another post where he achieved great success particularly with his pro-arab policies towards palestine leader of the popular front for the liberation of palestine bassam abu sharif would refer to aldo morrow as a great man and a true patriot but his success as a politician did not win him favor with all italians those on the far left and far right viewed him as yet another corrupt christian democrat working against their interests in 1974 new order would even go so far as to attempt an assassination bombing the italicus express which morrow was due to travel on luckily morrow stepped off shortly before departure and was unharmed although 12 people were killed that same year in 1974 he became prime minister again though his second term was nowhere near as successful as his first overseeing the controversial ossimo treaty with yugoslavia that ceded dispute of territory to them popularity with the christian democrats dropped during his second term and became extremely apparent in 1976 when the general election gave the communist party a historic 34 of the vote [Music] under previous governments this may have been seen as a crushing defeat the end of christian democratic control but not to aldo moro instead he saw it as an opportunity morrow had a close personal relationship with communist party leader enrico berlinguard and both men sought to bring unity to italy and so together the two parties vehemently opposed an ideology for decades agreed to what was known as the historic compromise a cabinet of ministers made up of both christian democrats and communists intended as a way to bridge italy's backwards and violent divisions in exchange for a place in government the communist party agreed to break all ties to the soviet union and pursue what was known as euro communism focused on european cooperation rather than subservience to moscow as you can imagine the soviets didn't take too kindly to this agreement seeing it as a loss of influence in italy the u.s was also opposed seeing it as a defeat and surrender to communism but to the government's surprise most moderate members of each party supported this agreement people were tired of violence tired of division they wanted the years of lead to end for people to stop being killed on the streets for their politics but the radicals were not prepared to let that happen to them the historic compromise was unacceptable and needed to be stopped the red brigades under mario moretti knew exactly how to stop it march 16th 1978 it's 9 a.m and the historic compromise is about to become a reality in just a few hours while aldo morrow gets ready his five bodyguards do the same as his standard practice they put their weapons in the boots of their cars morrow gets in the back seat of a blue fiat 130 one of his bodyguards drives while another sits beside him the remaining three drive close behind one can imagine how exciting the morning must have been the beginning of a bright new chapter in italian history they drive onto the street via fani and excitement turns to dread a car breaks at the end of the street right in front of morrows blocking them in the bodyguards attempt and escape by reversing but a parked mini miner foils their plan the convoy is trapped four people dressed in airline crew uniforms and wielding machine pistols emerged from nearby bushes they opened fire the two bodyguards and morrow's car are killed immediately the three behind rushed to the boot to retrieve their weapons but they too are killed aldo moro is now the sole survivor the assailants approach his vehicle drag him out and force him into another they drive off leaving a scene of death and violence with the most powerful man in italy in their custody the red brigades acted quickly claiming responsibility just an hour after the attack and the state of emergency was declared by the christian democratic government giving them huge sweeping powers a search commenced immediately and became top priority any hopes of the historic compromise coming into force died with the bodyguards the public reaction was that of anxiety to many the red brigades had gone too far this time but to some primarily those on the far left this was a time for celebration however something everyone knew was that italy would never be the same again no one knew where aldo morrow was taken or what state he was in the only source of information came in the red brigade's demands and details of interrogation the interrogation whose contents we already described continues with the prisoners full collaboration his answers increasingly clarify the counter-revolutionary lines that the imperialist bases are carrying out moreau is also acquainted that he is not the only one he thus summons the other hierarchs to share with him the responsibilities and addresses them an appeal which sounds like an explicit call of co-culpability the red brigades called for an exchange the release of 15 communist fighters in return for aldo morrow's life the government split over how to proceed most favored negotiating believing morrow's safe return was paramount however a sizable minority believed any negotiation would legitimize violence undermining what aldo morrow fought for as negotiations continued for over a month the red brigades released what would become the most defining image in italian history aldo morrow seated in front of the red brigade's flag it signaled to every italian just how destructive the violence had become that even those who campaigned for unity and reconciliation were not to be spared however disturbing the image might have been it was still confirmation that aldo morrow was alive and well his captors had allowed him to write letters during his imprisonment of which he wrote 86 they were addressed to his christian democrat colleagues who he tried to convince them to negotiate and attacked them for not supporting the compromise of course i cannot prevent myself from underlying the wickedness of all the christian democrats who did not agree with my position my blood will fall over them [Music] he wrote to the pope begging for him to convince them of the same instead pope paul vi demanded for morrow's unconditional release morrow viewed this as an abandonment by someone who had been a lifelong friend many of his letters were addressed to his wife he assured her that he was in good health that his captors had been treating him with respect and that he hoped to be released but as negotiations dragged on it was clear that the christian democrats were unwilling to compromise mario moretti who had organized for kidnapping and had been leading the red brigade side in the talks even called aldomorrow's wife personally in a desperate attempt to convince the government to agree i is foreign even the red brigades wanted morrow to live but in the end it wasn't up to them and communication ceased on may 9th 1978. the red brigades released their final statement comrades the battle that began on march 16th has reached its conclusion after the interrogation to which aldo moreau was subjected the president of the christian democrats was sentenced to death to his cronies from the dc the government and his accomplices asking for his release we've provided a possibility for the freedom of aldomero one of the most responsible of the filthy christian democratic regime we ask for the freedom of 13 communist fighters imprisoned for what concerns our proposal we can only record the clear refusal from dc we thus conclude the battle that began on the 16th of march executing the sentence to which although monroe has been condemned on the 8th of may the day before communication ceased morrow wrote his final letter it was for his wife dear narina they have told me they are going to kill me in a little while i ask that neither state authorities nor party men attend my funeral i asked to be followed only by the few who really loved me who are worthy to accompany me with their prayers i am curious to see with my mortal eyes what comes next if there is light it will be beautiful at 6 00 am on the 9th of may after 55 days in captivity morrow was woken up he was told that the christian democrats had agreed to the demands and he was about to be released they took him to a car and told him to climb in the boot where he was covered in a red blanket six hours later at midday he was found aldo morrow former prime minister the man who had fought for peace for unity the loving husband and father of four lay in the boot of a car in some alley in rome with ten bullets in his chest [Music] [Music] following the news of aldo morrow's murder doubt was thrown onto who exactly was responsible for it the physical act was undoubtedly carried out by mario moretti's red brigades but there were question marks as to whether or not it ended there a witness to the abduction at via funny claimed they heard a german voice among the kidnappers something which could implicate the red army faction a communist terror group from germany evidence came to light years later that provided some proof of mafia involvement on both sides as well the christian democrats had allegedly asked the calabrian mafia for help in locating morrow something which fell apart when the government no longer desired to free him as well as this a member of the mafia had also allegedly taken part in the assault of vilfani after infiltrating the red brigades however the strongest evidence implicating those outside the red brigades was against both foreign and domestic intelligence a few years before the kidnapping took place morrow allegedly told a government colleague that he knew of american and israeli spies who had infiltrated the red brigades given that morrow's historic compromise was unpopular with the us and that his relations with palestine were unpopular with israel this would have given both powers ample motive to carry out his assassination however the key word in all of these allegations is allegedly morrow's murder remains one of the most mysterious events in italian history to this day on par with events like the kennedy assassination all that was known for sure about what happened was mario moretti had killed aldo morrow and the red brigades were responsible in the aftermath of the murder public support for the red brigades plummeted no longer were they seen as warriors of the working class however as the government began a massive clamp down on leftist terrorism armed activities skyrocketed as they knew their days were now numbered the following year 1979 saw the most attacks 659 mostly carried out by the far left but the far right was not finished either although right-wing terrorism had been on the decline since the mid-seventies after new order and the national vanguard had been dissolved and their leaders arrested or fled abroad two bombings were still carried out in bologna fascists blew up the train station killing 85 and in 1984 they blew up a train killing 17. this would be their final act of terror before fading into obscurity left-wing terror took longer to subside but the beginning of the end came in 1981 when mario moretti was finally arrested for the murder of aldo morrow and sentenced to six life sentences after that attacks declined until 1988 that year the red brigades carried out what would be their final assassination of senator roberto refili before declaring the war to be over the years of lead had officially ended and had gone out with a whimper the legacy of the years of lead is unfortunately downplayed like the end of world war ii before some argue italy is headed towards another amnesia regarding it something made worse by the fates of those most responsible for the violence out of the three founders of the red brigades two are still alive today renato curcio and alberto francischini both were arrested in 1974 and sentenced to life in prison however both were freed soon after franceschini was freed in 1992 and is currently employed as a social worker in rome helping out immigrants drug addicts the unemployed and former convicts he has since attempted to distance himself from his crimes renato curcio was freed in 1998 and is currently a writer he has as of yet expressed no remorse for his involvement in the red brigades mario moretti although sentenced to six life sentences was granted parole in 1997 after just 15 years in prison which he is currently still serving allowing him freedom during the day so long as he checks into prison at night today he lives and works in milan with his wife and daughter as per the terms of his parole he has expressed regret for his crimes however it's unknown if he truly feels that way or is just pretending so as not to violate his parole from 2004 to 2005 he was allowed to speak to journalism students at the university of milan about his time in the red brigades and his involvement in morrow's death mario moretti remains the most ambiguous figure from the years of lead as for the other lesser-known left-wing leaders most fled abroad mainly to france as the meteoron doctrine adopted there in 1985 granted amnesty for far-left terrorists who renounced their violent pasts the far right had less lenient sentences in the end those who had not been able to flee abroad were imprisoned where many of them remained to this day the years of lead forever changed italian politics support for communism practically disappeared as its association with terrorism became increasingly strong the communist party suffering election defeat after election defeat was formally dissolved in 1991 splitting into one of these splits the communist refoundation party currently occupies one seat in the senate and is the only communist party with a seat in government fascism suffered a similar fate the msi from which new order and the national vanguard emerged from dissolved shortly after in 1995 its successors had no electoral success and fascism has now become a fringe ideology in italy the christian democrats too were not spared in the aftermath the party never recovered after aldo mora's death of which many italians held them responsible due to their unwillingness to compromise and so they too suffered defeat after defeat until they were forced to dissolve the party in 1994 their successors too found no electoral success 428 people were killed in the years of lead from 1969 to 1988 and an additional 2000 were physically and psychologically scarred those who lived through the violence have vowed never to forget it to teach those who never knew it about the suffering everyone endured but many believe it's not enough they believe the legacy has not been properly addressed that those responsible for violence and death have not been served the justice they deserve and when looking at renato curcio alberto francischini mario moretti the countless fascists who fled to spain or the countless leftists who fled to france all of which have lived in peace and security many never seeing the inside of a prison cell and those who have only briefly when looking at the terrorists and the murderers who escaped justice can you really blame them [Music] thank you for watching this 45 minute video about italy wow you have a very good attention span well done if you sat through this very long video then that means you probably like what the content that i make so uh subscribe and and uh leave a like and share with your friends uh thanks to eamonn lasry and josh roll for giving their beautiful voices uh for voicing aldo morrow and the red brigades respectively uh go follow eamon on instagram his uh link will be in the description and go follow josh's uh illustration page on instagram he's extremely talented and i love every single drawing he makes and i want to frame all of them because they are actually incredible so uh go follow them both and give them some love this is usually the part where i'd uh recommend some books or something but really there are no uh english sources available so i had to rely mostly on online translations which could mean a lot of things are very wonky so please if you're italian and i made some crucial mistakes or left some things out please comment and i'll try uh keep it i'll i'll try put it all into one pinned comment i did watch a movie uh piazza fontana the italian conspiracy which is pretty good uh if you're familiar with with the years of lead it's pretty good so go check that out i believe it's on amazon prime or you could rent it on amazon i'm pretty sure again thank you for watching and uh please correct any mistakes in the comments and uh yeah goodbye you