The Giarre murder was a 1980 double homicide in Giarre, Italy, that at the time, shocked Italy and helped spur the Italian homosexual rights movement.
Giarre murder | |
|---|---|
| Born | Giorgio Agatino Giammona Antonio Galatola |
| Disappeared | Giarre, Italy |
| Died | c. 17 October 1980 |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wounds to head |
| Body discovered | Giarre, Italy (31 October 1980) |
Disappearance and discovery of bodies
editOn 31 October 1980, the decomposed bodies of two young males, 25-year-old Giorgio Agatino Giammona and 15-year-old Antonio "Toni" Galatola,[1] who had disappeared from home two weeks earlier, were found dead, hand in hand, both shot in the head.[2] The two boys were called "i ziti" ("the boyfriends") in the village.[3] Giorgio in particular was openly gay, after having been caught in a car by a local carabiniere with another young man at the age of 16 and therefore denounced, earning him the Sicilian derogatory nickname "puppu 'ccô bullu" ("licensed homosexual").[4]
Investigation
editWhen journalists and photographers from all over Italy arrived at the scene to publicize the tragedy, they were met by the town's sense of omertà, not wanting to be associated with the story of a homosexual couple.
Investigations soon led to the identification of the perpetrator - Toni's 13-year-old nephew Francesco Messina, who was therefore unpunishable.[5] He claimed that the victims themselves had ordered him to kill them, saying that they had threatened to shoot him if he didn't comply. However, two days later, he recanted, claiming that he had taken responsibility under pressure from the carabinieri.[6]
Thus no culprit was ever identified, but it was assumed it had been the 13-year-old Francesco, having done so at the families' behest. It even went so far as to claim that the murder was even carried out with the approval of the two boys, who were convinced that they would never be able to live happily.[7] Following the crime, Italian public opinion had to acknowledge the existence of homophobia.
Aftermath
editThe incident led to the creation of the eastern Sicilian chapter of Fuori! (Out!) - an acronym for Fronte Unitario Omosessuale Rivoluzionario Italiano (Italian Revolutionary Homosexual Unitary Front), a gay rights organization founded in Turin in 1971. A month later in Palermo, openly gay former priest Marco Bisceglia, with help from a young conscientious objector Nichi Vendola and other militants, Massimo Milani and Gino Campanella, founded Arcigay, the first section of Arci dedicated to gay culture, which soon spread all over Italy.[8] It effectively laid the seed for the birth of the contemporary Italian homosexual movement, after the first experiences of associationism made in Rome in the 1960s. Shortly thereafter, in Bologna for the first time, there was official recognition of a gay group by the institutions with the granting by the City Council of a venue to the association Il Cassero.
On 9 May 2022, the City of Giarre affixed a memorial plaque dedicated to the two victims at the entrance of the "Domenico Cucinotta" municipal library.[9]
The film Fireworks (directed by Giuseppe Fiorello), which is based on this story, was released in 2023.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "New Book Shows How a Tragedy Launched Italy's LGBTQ+ Rights Movement". www.advocate.com. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
- ^ "Why is an unsolved, 43-year-old homophobic murder case making headlines in Italy?". Yahoo News. 28 June 2023. Archived from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
- ^ King, John Paul (20 January 2024). "Sicilian boys in love spark 'Fireworks'". www.washingtonblade.com. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
- ^ "Toni e Giorgio, morti di pregiudizio Diedero coraggio all' altra Italia". La Repubblica (in Italian). 10 July 2005. Archived from the original on 28 June 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Sampognaro, Franco (3 November 1980). "I due omosessuali uccisi dal ragazzo: «Vogliamo morire e tu ci devi sparare»". Stampa Sera (in Italian). p. 10. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Sampognaro, Franco (4 November 1980). "Ha ritrattato il dodicenne che confessò d'aver ucciso due omosessuali a Catania?". La Stampa (in Italian). p. 9. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ "IL CASO DI GIARRE..." www.cinziaricci.it. Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ Ruscica, Agata (18 June 2010). "Il seme di Giarre". Arcigay (in Italian). Archived from the original on 17 September 2010. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "La lapide che ricorderà per sempre le vittime del delitto di Giarre". Linkiesta (in Italian). 11 May 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.