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What was the Piazza Fontana bombing in Milan in 1969?

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People walk and shop inside the ornate Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, Italy, with its glass-domed roof, decorative mosaics, and luxury store entrances. — Milan Shoppers in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan.

The Piazza Fontana bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred on December 12, 1969, at the National Bank of Agriculture headquarters in Milan. The explosion killed 17 people and wounded 88 others.1

While the attack was initially blamed on anarchists, it was later determined to be the work of the neofascist organization New Order (Ordine Nuovo). The bombing is widely considered the start of the Years of Lead, a period of intense sociopolitical unrest and terrorism in Italy that lasted until the late 1980s.12

The act was part of a "strategy of tension" employed by far-right extremists who sought to create chaos and provoke the state into implementing authoritarian rule. This use of indiscriminate, high-casualty violence against civilians is morally unjustifiable and stands in direct opposition to the fundamental principles of human rights and democratic peace.12