Twenty years since the Georgofili massacre in Florence, May 27, 1993

On the night of May 26-27, 1993, to be precise at 1:04 a.m. on May 27, a car bomb planted in front of the Torre dei Pulci in Florence, home of theGeorgofili Academy, exploded causing, in addition to the loss and damage of numerous works of art, the disappearance of five innocent people: Fabrizio Nencioni, 38, an inspector with the Florence traffic police; Angela Fiume, 35, a custodian at the Georgofili Academy; Nadia and Caterina Nencioni, 8 years and just under two months old, respectively, daughters of the couple; and Dario Capolicchio, 21, a student off the campus. Another 48 people were injured instead. Seven works of art were lost forever: Bartolomeo Manfredi’s Card Players and Concert, Gerrit van Honthorst ’sAdoration of the Shepherds (kept at the Uffizi), Bartolomeo Bimbi’sEagle, a painting of Vultures, Owls and Woodcock by Andrea Scacciati, and two prints, a Hunting Scene by Francis Grant and a Great Deer in a Swamp by Edwin Landseer (kept at the Georgofili Academy). On the 20th anniversary of the event that has since been known as the Georgofili Massacre, Windows on Art wants to commemorate the memory of these five people and the outrage committed against the artistic heritage, which suffered enormous damage.

These were the years in whichItaly was experiencing the height of Cosa Nostra’s massacre strategy: the Mafia had already killed magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino and was preparing to set up a tactic that, according to the criminals, would strike the state more effectively than attacks against individuals. This tactic was to strike at Italy’s artistic heritage in order to cause a deep wound to the state and its culture. The reasons for the season of massacres can be found in the perseverance and tightening of the fight against the Mafia by the state, which at that time had decided to apply Article 41 bis of the Law on Prison Regulations (known as “carcere duro”) to Mafia prisoners. The Mafia, through the attacks, hoped precisely to obtain the revocation of 41 bis by the state: this is the official motive.

The Georgofili Massacre was the one that inaugurated the season of attacks on the artistic heritage, which cost, as reiterated above, not only the loss of works of art, but also that of human lives: the Florence bombing was followed by the Via Palestro Massacre in Milan (five victims and extensive damage to the Pavilion of Contemporary Art) and the bombs on the churches of San Giovanni in Laterano and San Giorgio al Velabro in Rome, which fortunately caused no casualties but resulted in several injuries as well as damage to the two religious buildings. The massacres came to a halt in 1994 with then Justice Minister Giovanni Conso’s failure to renew the 41 bis for a number of Mafiosi, and at the same time with the arrest of brothers Filippo and Giuseppe Graviano, Mafia bosses who were among the main organizers of the bombings: currently, they are serving life sentences.

However, 20 years later, many questions remain unanswered: the first, and most profound, is trying to understand whether there was a negotiation between the state and the Mafia. Just tomorrow will begin in Palermo the trial of ten defendants (including Mafiosi, politicians and Carabinieri officers) for the alleged negotiation. And it will then have to be understood whether the revocation of 41 bis was the actual motive for the massacres, or whether there was something deeper behind the attacks: these are the doubts also expressed by Giovanna Maggiani Chelli, president of the Association of Families of the Victims of the Massacre of Via dei Georgofili.

While waiting for justice to take its course and for full light to be shed on the 1993 massacres, we cannot fail to commemorate one of the ugliest and most horrific seasons of Italian history, which cost the lives of so many innocent people and the loss of great masterpieces. In front of the Flea Tower, an olive tree, a symbol of peace, has been planted in remembrance of the massacre and the victims: anyone who goes to Florence cannot fail to pass there. And there are also many initiatives that will be held between today and tomorrow in Florence: we point out in particular, at 9:00 a.m. in Piazza della Signoria, the Girotondo per Caterina Firenze abbraccia gli Uffizi, conceived by Marco Ferri and Marta Pesamosca, which will involve hundreds of young students and will go around the Uffizi. Indeed, one of the most effective ways to fight the Mafia is througheducation and culture, two weapons feared by the Mafia, which feeds on ignorance. To renew the memory and at the same time to educate and be educated therefore is our precise duty as citizens, just as it is our duty to ask the state for more education and more culture also to fight the Mafia: and it is a precise duty of the state to respond to lawlessness with more education and more culture. We must do this not only for ourselves, but also in memory of those who gave their lives.

We close this article of ours with thelist of the works of art destroyed and damaged in the Georgofili massacre, taken from the motivations of the sentence of the Florence Court of Assizes in the trial against those responsible(at this link, by clicking on “motivations,” the full document):

As a result of the explosion, in fact, in addition to the serious damage to buildings in the historic center and the streets in the vicinity of Via dei Georgofili and Via Lambertesca:
the Pulci Tower, home of the Georgofili Academy, wastotally destroyed, and the Uffizi Gallery, Palazzo Vecchio, the Church of Santo Stefano and Cecilia al Ponte Vecchio, and the Museum of the History of Science and Technology were severely damaged;
the following works were lost:
at the Uffizi Gallery: Gherardo delle Notti - “Adoration of the Shepherds”; Manfredi - “Card Players”; Manfredi - “Concert.”

at the Georgofili Academy: Bimbi - “Eagle”; Scacciati - “Vultures, Owls and Woodcock”; Grant (raff. print) - “Hunting Scene”; Landseer (raff. print) - “Big Deer in a Swamp.”

the following works were severely damaged:

at the Uffizi Gallery: Van Der Weyden - “Deposition in the Sepulcher”; Sebastiano Del Piombo - “Death of Adonis”; Cristofano dell’Altissimo - “Portrait of Giovanni della Casa”; Gregorio Pagani - “Priam and Thisbe”; Rubens - “Henry IV at the Battle of Ivry”; Rubens - “Portrait of Philip IV of Spain”; C. Lorrain - “Port with Villa Medici”; Bernini - “Head of an Angel”; Gherardo Delle Notti - “Adoration of the Child”; Gherardo Delle Notti - “The Good Fortune”; Gherardo Delle Notti - “Dinner with Lute Players”; Manfredi - “Tribute to Caesar”; Manfredi - “Dispute with the Doctors”; F. Rustici - “Death of Lucretia”; A. Gentileschi - “Judith and Holofenes”; A. Gentileschi - “Saint Catherine”; G. Reni - “David with the Head of Goliath”; B. Strozzi - “Parable of the wedding guest”; Empoli - “Still Life”; Empoli - “Still Life”; R. Manetti - “Massinissa and Sophonisba”; G.B. Spinelli - “David celebrated by maidens”; G.B. Spinelli - “David appeases Saul’s wrath”; N. Reiner - “Scene of Play”; Caravaggesque School - “Incredulity of St. Thomas”; Valentin - “Dice Players”; Caravaggesque School - “Liberation of St. Peter”; - “Battle of Radicofani”; M. Caffi - “Flowers”; M. Caffi - “Flowers”; Gherardo Delle Notti - “Dinner with Spouses.”

at theAccademia dei Georgofili: Bimbi - “Pelican”; “Flowers” (no. 2 - inv. castle 576 and 578);

the following works were variously damaged:

at the Uffizi Gallery: Bronzino - “Portrait of a Woman”; Van Douven - “Glorification of the Palatine Electors”; School A. Gaddi - “Triptych: Madonna and Saints”; Maso da San Friano - “The Fall of Icarus”; Giovanni da San Giovanni - “Madonna and Child with St. Francis”; R. Van Der Weyden - “Deposition”; Pontormo - “Madonna and Child”; Garofalo - “Madonna and Saints”; Vasari - “Portrait of Duke Alessandro”; Raffaellino Del Garbo - “Madonna and Child”; Puccinelli - “Madonna and Child”; A. Micheli - “Saint Catherine”; Caravaggesque School - “Double Portrait”; unknown - “Reclining Child”; unknown - “Saint John the Evangelist”; Roman School - “Portrait of Portia De’ Rossi”; Fra’ Bartolomeo - “Portia”; Velasquez - “Lady on Horseback”; Pollaiolo School - “Justice”; Titian - “Last Supper”; 15th-century School - “Virgin and Child”; A. Cecchi - “Self-portrait”; V. Campanello - “Self-Portrait”; C. Baba - “Self-Portrait”; M. De Matchva - “Self-Portrait”; Farulli - “Self-Portrait”;

at the Institute and Museum of History and Science: Cylindrical vase of the Accademia del Cimento, 17th century, h. cm. 27, diam. cm. 9, glass (catal. IX.66), cracked vase plate - damage not repairable - weakening of the object irreparable; Tray, 17th cent., glass, diam. c. 46 cm. (catal. IX.85), cracked - irreparable; Reflector telescope, wood, by Leto Guidi, 18th cent. (catal. XI.1), scratches on the surface of the tube - restorable; Reflector telescope, wood, 17th cent. (catal. XI.2), scratches on the surface of the tube - restorable; Santucci armillone sphere, 16th cent. (catal. VII.30), broken armilla - detachment of the polar cap - weakened structure - damage curable with difficulty;

the following sculptures were found to be damaged:

at the Uffizi Gallery: Hellenistic art - “Niobis”; Roman art - “Head of a young man”; Roman-era copy of “Myron’s Discobolus”

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