Bologna, 45th anniversary of the massacre. Mattarella: "The country responded with determination."

Forty-five years have passed since the morning of August 2, 1980. It was a Saturday of vacation departures, the light-hearted summer atmosphere shattered forever by the brutality of terrorism. Forty-five years later, that date still represents one of the darkest pages in post-World War II Italian history. At 10:25 a.m., a violent explosion ripped through the waiting room of Bologna's central station, killing 85 people and injuring over 200. A high-explosive explosive device, placed in an abandoned suitcase in the second-class waiting room, devastated part of the building and caused the roof to collapse, affecting travelers, operators, and employees. The bomb's power was such that it spread death and panic far beyond the waiting room, hurling debris onto the tracks and stationary trains.

On the 45th anniversary of the tragedy that shook all of Italy, Bologna and the entire country are remembering the victims with demonstrations, public ceremonies, and the prolonged sounding of the station siren at 10:25 a.m. The commemoration began at Palazzo d'Accursio with a meeting between institutions and the association of the victims' families, followed by a procession from Via Ugo Bassi to Piazza delle Medaglie d'Oro, and official speeches, interrupted by the triple blast of a locomotive whistle introducing a minute of silence at 10:25 a.m., the time of the massacre.

This morning, the President's message also arrived. "The Bologna train station massacre has left an indelible mark of inhumanity on Italy's identity, the result of a ruthless neo-fascist subversive strategy aimed at undermining constitutional values, social achievements, and, with them, our very civil coexistence." He added: "August 2, forty-five years ago, with the mangled bodies, the many innocent deaths, the immense suffering of family members, the upheaval of a city and, with it, the entire national community, is etched in the nation's memory."

The Head of State then recalled the response from Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, and Italy, which "promptly and firmly, expressing all the solidarity they are capable of," rejected "the destabilizing plan, the complicity present even within state apparatuses, and the plots of those who led the massacres."

Then, the closeness to the families of the victims, "an expression of a cohesive community that adheres to those democratic principles that the perpetrators of the massacre sought to erase, instilling fear to undermine institutions, seeking to push the country toward authoritarianism, with responsibilities established thanks to the tenacious work of magistrates and public servants. The testimony of the Association of the Victims' Families, which has always kept the light shining on the path that led to the uncovering of the perpetrators and instigators, deserves the Republic's gratitude. It is a precious example of fidelity to constitutional values, especially for young people."