The Battle of Valle Giulia (battaglia di Valle Giulia) is the conventional name for a clash between Italian militants (left-wing as well as right-wing) and the Italian police in Valle Giulia, Rome, on 1 March 1968. It is still frequently remembered as one of the first violent clashes in Italy's student unrest during the protests of 1968 or "Sessantotto".[1]
On Friday 1 March, about 4,000 people gathered in the Piazza di Spagna, who began marching through the Sapienza University of Rome campus; some had the intention of occupying the school. When they arrived, the students found themselves in front of an imposing cordon of police, and during the coping that followed, a small group of policemen broke away to deal with violence of an isolated student; the protesters responded with throwing stones and sharp objects.[2] The leaders of the attacks against police were neo-fascist members of the National Vanguard Youth.[3] Left-wing and right-wing students occupied different buildings.[4][5] In the brawl, 148 injuries were recorded to police, 478 injuries to students, 4 were detained, and 228 were arrested. Eight police cars were destroyed, and five guns were stolen from officers.[6]
^vedi p. 397 Nanni Balestrini, Primo Moroni,L'orda d'oro: 1968-1977, Feltrinelli, 1997.
^Ugo Gaudenzi Asinelli, testimonianza in Nicola Rao, La fiamma e la celtica, Sperling & Kupfer Editori, 2006, pp. 125-126 - ISBN978-88-200-4193-9
^Nicola Rao, La fiamma e la celtica, op. cit., pp. 126: "Ma la cosa più interessante è che a capeggiare l'attacco alla polizia sono i fascisti, a cominciare da quelli di Avanguardia Nazionale, guidati da Delle Chiaie"
^Piero Ignazi, Il polo escluso. Profilo del Movimento Sociale Italiano, Bologna, il Mulino, 1989, p. 132
^Mario CapraraeGianluca Semprini, Neri, la storia mai raccontata della destra radicale, eversiva e terrorista, Edizioni tascabili Newton, Roma 2011, pag 223: "Dopo la battaglia di Valle Giulia venne occupata l'università: la facoltà di Giurisprudenza passò in mano al gruppo guidato da Stefano Delle Chiaie, quella di Lettere fu invece "presa" dal Movimento Studentesco. Su Giurisprudenza svettava bandiera nera, su Lettere il drappo rosso"
^Cfr. anche Marco Iacona, 1968. Le origini della contestazione globale, Solfanelli, 2008, pp. 86-87
Far-right militants
Italian police
Far-left militants
