Memorial to the Victims of Terrorism and Political Violence

Created over the decade from 2013 to 2023, the Memorial takes the form of a distributed monument extending across the city of Brescia, symbolically linking Piazza della Loggia and Brescia Castle. The route is marked by 441 memorial stumbling stones engraved with the names of the victims of terrorism and politically motivated attacks that occurred between 1947 and 2015 (from the Portella della Ginestra massacre to the Garissa massacre in Kenya) – in Italy and around the world. Each stone preserves the memory of a life cut short and invites passers-by to embark on a “path of dialogue”. It offers a vital experience of active citizenship, through which history and collective memory point the way towards a future grounded in the steadfast and tireless defence of the values of democracy and the Italian Constitution.

The route to Brescia Castle also creates a symbolic connection with the latest digital installation at the Museum of the Risorgimento – Lioness of Italy, A People Who Have Known the Struggle Freedom Since the Very First Risorgimento, which features a speech Bruno Boni delivered at the funeral of the victims of the 1974 Piazza della Loggia bombing. On that occasion the Mayor of Brescia invoked the example of the Ten Days of Brescia as a source of moral cohesion for the Brescia community.

On January 20, 2025, Fondazione Brescia Musei — an organization already dedicated to the preservation and promotion of tangible and intangible cultural heritage — signed an agreement with Casa della Memoria aimed at formally recognizing the Memorial as a pivotal site of collective identity. The agreement establishes the Foundation’s commitment to organizing and promoting a wide range of conferences, debates, seminars, and educational sessions aimed particularly at younger generations, along with educational workshops and scientific research programs related to the complex historical period of the “strategy of tension.”

This mission draws directly on the principles enshrined in the Faro Convention, which defines cultural heritage as a set of resources inherited from the past that communities identify, regardless of ownership, as a reflection and expression of their own evolving values, beliefs, and traditions. The Memorial perfectly embodies this vision, encompassing all aspects of the environment resulting from the centuries-long interaction between people and places, making memory a living and shared heritage.

The Memorial acts as a bridge between the community and its historical heritage: while aspiring to universal value, it has deep roots in local history and identity. Through its 441 panels, this “path of remembrance” becomes a permanent civic ritual.

Brescia, 28 May 1974: a bomb explodes at an anti-fascist and trade union demonstration, killing eight people. In those lives we find the Italy of the 1970s – a country that struggled and hoped, seeking to change the world through family planning clinics and trade unions, politics and social movements. In that bombing converged the forces that violently opposed the hopes for change. The Brescia massacre is a microcosm that brings into focus the lights and shadows of the 1970s.

“Era di maggio. Vite intorno alla strage di Brescia” (It Was May. Lives Around the Brescia Massacre) is an author-led walking tour produced by Chora Media (2026), written and narrated by Benedetta Tobagi. Through a route winding through the streets of Brescia, it gives voice to this collective wound, retracing the steps of those killed in the massacre, before rejoining the route of the Memorial to the Victims of Terrorism and Political Violence. The narrative brings a fragment of this story back to life, transforming the memorial stumbling stones into a living account that weaves together lives cut short and civic memory.