Search

Home > English Learning for Curious Minds > #582 | Piazza Fontana & The Accidental Death of An Anarchist
Podcast: English Learning for Curious Minds
Episode:

#582 | Piazza Fontana & The Accidental Death of An Anarchist
Category: Education
Duration: 00:25:30
Publish Date: 2025-12-04 23:00:00
Description:

 


A deadly bomb. A death in a police station. A secret kept from the public. 

In 1969, an explosion in Milan killed 17 people. The police accused a group of anarchists, but the story was not that simple. 

In part one of this three-part mini-series on "Gli Anni Di Piombo" (The Years of Lead), we look at how this tragedy started one of the darkest times in Italian history. 

  • Italy modernising fast, but divided and tense.
  • 12 December 1969: bomb at Milan’s Piazza Fontana.
  • Seventeen dead, eighty-eight injured; shock across Italy.
  • Coordinated Rome bombs; no claim; anarchists blamed.
  • Anarchist Giuseppe Pinelli dies after police questioning; controversy.
  • Pietro Valpreda arrested; weak evidence; years before acquittal.
  • Evidence pointed to far-right group Ordine Nuovo.
  • Suspected cover-ups by police and secret services.
  • Strategy of tension; suspected Gladio links; extent unclear.
  • Impact: fear, ordinary victims, start of the Years of Lead.


 Full interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/piazza-fontana


---

You might like:
Total Play: 0