EPISODE 114: The Years of Lead: Piazza Fontana

History on Fire

Daniele Bolelli

Society & Culture

4.8 • 5.8K Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2025

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“With P2, we had Italy in our hands. The Army, the Guardia di Finanzia, the police… they were all ruled by our members.” - Licio Gelli “Every week the streets of Milan were the theater of demonstrations, and were lit up by the fires of Molotov cocktails.” - Guido Passalacqua My childhood took place at a time known in Italy as The Years of Lead. It was a time of tear gas, terrorist attacks, false flag operations, anarchists getting thrown out of the windows of police stations, bombs on trains, assassinations, and street battles. One day, in my hometown, a bomb placed in a bank killed 17 people and wounded many more. It was the opening round in a war waged terrorists and some members of the secret services to bring about an authoritarian coup. This episode is about the dark days when political violence was an ever-present reality in the streets of Italy. If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my ⁠Patreon⁠ to access plenty of bonus content. All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at our LinkTree, including our ⁠HOF YouTube Channel⁠, ⁠Substack⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, and ⁠TikTok⁠. JAPAN TOUR! Let’s head out to Japan in Oct 2026. All the details at Geek Nation Tours. Throughout history, people have used mushrooms (such as Lion’s Mane, Turkey Tail, Cordyceps, Reishi and Chaga) for their medicinal properties. My friends started ⁠⁠Purest Mushrooms⁠⁠ where they offer some of the best quality mushrooms you can find on the market at affordable prices. Use code historyonfire at checkout for a discount. Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dakota Pure Bison⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout. This episode is supported by Arizona State University. Learn more about how ASU supports all learners through all stages of life. My friend James Pieratt is one of the world’s top functional training experts, and a record-breaking hybrid athlete. Use the code WH25 for a 25% discount on all of his training programs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wild Hunt Conditioning⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello and welcome to episode 114. If you enjoy History on Fire, the best way to make sure it remains viable is to support it either on Patreon or Substuck.
0:10.0	Five bucks a month, I get to keep making podcasts and you get bonus episodes every single month.
0:16.0	And while we are at it, I want to give a shout-out to some folks who support at a much higher level.
0:22.0	So thank you to Mark Chang, Chimmy Moxon, Justin Bourne, Julian Bailey, Liu Bo Zereva,
0:26.8	Amitai Eschel, Raffaldini Vineyards, Brent Beckley, Hunterstone, and Francis Lund from the Game Changing History Podcast.
0:35.3	Quick announcement.
0:36.8	There will be a tour of Japan that I'll be leading in
0:40.8	2006. I went in for one last year and I had one of the best travel experiences of my life.
0:49.0	And it looks like Theras from Geek Nation tours will set up another one. Different one, completely different history.
0:55.9	That one was about the Gampay War.
0:57.7	This one is about the Battle of Sekigahara
0:59.8	and some of the events of the war in state periods
1:02.8	at the end of the 1500s, early 1600s.
1:06.7	If you want to know more about it,
1:08.6	geeknationtours.com.
1:10.5	I'll put a link in the episode notes on my website.
1:15.2	But other than that, if you want to search for it, GeekNation Tours,
1:18.8	and I'm sure you'll be able to find the correct link there.
1:22.8	Or otherwise, you can always reach out to Theras, the man, at Geck Nation Tours.
1:28.3	Before we get going, a couple more shoutouts.
1:30.3	One, this episode is supported by Arizona State University.
1:34.3	Learn more about IASU supports all learners through all stages of life at www.asu.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Daniele Bolelli, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Daniele Bolelli and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.