Bologna, August 2, 2026 – Forty-six years after that August 2, 1980, remembering the victims and drying the tears of an entire city, we always return there, to the neo-fascist origin of the massacre at Bologna station (85 dead and 200 injured), which still divides politics and the institutional world in two. The neo-fascist origin is remembered by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, in his message to the city; it is loudly proclaimed by the victims’ families and the mayor Matteo Lepore from the station stage; it is recognized by the Undersecretary of the Interior, the Lega member Nicola Molteni, sent by the government for the institutional ceremony at Palazzo d’Accursio, as well as by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani and the Minister of University and Research, Anna Maria Bernini, both from Forza Italia. It is not mentioned, however, by the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the message that agencies released a few minutes after the end of the commemorations.
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The controversy reignites in an instant
And the political controversy reignites in an instant. “Forty-six years ago terrorism launched one of its fiercest attacks – says the Prime Minister -. It struck at the heart of the entire nation, with an attack that disintegrated Bologna station. What happened on August 2, 1980, represents one of the darkest and most dramatic pages in national history.” A message preceded, an hour earlier, by that of the President of the Senate, Ignazio La Russa, who recalled in a “dutiful” way that “the judicial truth has definitively attributed to the ‘fascist origin’ the responsibility for this horrible massacre.” Adding, however, that it is “equally necessary to join the request coming from many quarters to continue the search for the complete truth.”
The reaction of the president of the victims’ families
A one-two that triggers the reaction of the president of the victims’ families, Paolo Lambertini (“for the Bologna massacre there is an extraordinary light, given by the sentences of the trials, which has been able to illuminate the dark page referred to by the Prime Minister and show its neo-fascist origin”), and that provokes the uprising of the entire center-left.
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Secretary Elly Schlein
The secretary of the PD Elly Schlein, present at the commemorations under the Two Towers, warns: “We will not allow an attempt to rewrite history. It is written in those sentences that it was a massacre of neo-fascist origin with a subversive intent.” The 5 Star leader, Giuseppe Conte, invites Meloni to “not deny the final convictions that confirmed the neo-fascist origin,” while from Avs Angelo Bonelli emphasizes that the Prime Minister’s omission “is not forgetfulness, but a political choice” and Nicola Fratoianni speaks of “an outrage to the memory of the victims and their families.”
Those present at the commemoration
But politics was prominent not only for the controversies but also for the presence at the commemoration of the massacre. Above all – besides Schlein – the presence of Silvia Salis, mayor of Genoa (to my knowledge the first mayor of the Ligurian capital to participate), who marched in procession with the people of Bologna and took the stage in Piazza Medaglie d’Oro, among administrators and relatives of the victims, did not go unnoticed. “For us it was important to be here, close to Mayor Lepore and Bologna on this day of remembrance,” said Salis. After the ceremony, she greeted Schlein on the station stage: kisses, hugs, and a quick exchange of words. After all, for anyone nurturing the idea of leading the center-left, Bologna and the August 2 square remain an essential stop.
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