Years of Lead
The Years of Lead (Anni di piombo, c. 1969–1988) was Italy's period of political violence: bombings, kidnappings, and street warfare between far-left militant groups (Red Brigades), neo-fascist terrorism, and the state/security apparatus.
Key facts
- Opened by the Piazza Fontana bombing (1969, attributed to neo-fascists with intelligence-service complicity); marked by the Piazza della Loggia and Bologna station bombings (1974, 1980) — most mass-casualty attacks traced to the far right.
- The strategy of tension: documented collaboration between neofascist networks, elements of the secret services, and NATO's stay-behind networks (revealed as Gladio in 1990) to steer Italian politics rightward by manufacturing chaos blamed on the left.
- Climaxed with the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro (1978) — the statesman preparing a Historic Compromise between DC and PCI — and the Red Brigades' destruction in the 1980s.
Significance
The Years of Lead demonstrate how deep-state false-flag violence and provocation operate inside NATO countries — the template Infrared applies to understanding modern atrocity narratives and color-revolution mechanics (see 2018 Douma Chemical Attacks, OPCW). They also destroyed the possibility of communist victory in Italy: the PCI's legalist paralysis amid the terror prefigured Eurocommunism's collapse.