Widows from Italy’s era of civil conflict shake hands

Two widows from the years of bitter civil conflict in Italy have shaken hands in a moving memorial ceremony in Rome.

Licia Rognini is the widow of anarchist Guiseppe Pinelli who died in 1969 – after falling from the third storey window of a police station following three days of questioning. Gemma Capra is the widow of police officer Luigi Calabresi who was accused of killing Pinelli – and was himself assassinated three years later by left wing radicals. They were brought together Italian president Giorgio Napolitano : “Here we are fulfilling a political and institutional gesture,” he said. “We have broken the silence over wounds that cannot be distinguished – those of the 17 who died in the Piazza Fontana bombing – and that of a man whose righteousness and sense of honour need to be reaffirmed and never forgotten.” An investigation controversially claimed Pinelli’s death was an accident – it would become the subject of a world famous play by Dario Fo. No-one was ever convicted of the Milan bombing of which he was posthumously acquitted. 415 people died in political violence in Italy between 1969 and 1988More about: Italy

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