Editing Aldo Moro (section)

=Operation Gladio==
On March 16, 1978, Moro was kidnapped in Rome by the Red Brigades, a far-left terrorist group, while en route to parliament to discuss a new DC-PCI coalition government. In a meticulously planned ambush on Via Fani, the group killed his five bodyguards and abducted Moro, holding him for 55 days in a secret location. During captivity, Moro wrote numerous letters to his family, DC colleagues, and Pope Paul VI, urging negotiation and expressing despair over the government’s refusal to compromise with his captors. The Red Brigades demanded the release of imprisoned members, but Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti’s firm stance against negotiation, supported by hardline DC factions, prevailed.

Moro’s kidnapping was a flashpoint in Italy’s Cold War tensions, with speculation of involvement by [[Operation Gladio]], NATO’s clandestine anti-communist network, due to Moro’s pro-PCI stance. Declassified documents and investigations, including by magistrate Felice Casson, suggest Gladio’s possible role in destabilizing Italy to thwart communist influence, though direct links to the kidnapping remain unproven. On May 9, 1978, after failed negotiations, Moro was executed by the Red Brigades, his body left in a Renault 4’s trunk in Via Caetani, symbolically between DC and PCI headquarters. The event traumatized Italy, fueling debates over state security, terrorism, and covert operations. Moro’s legacy as a principled leader endures, symbolizing the era’s ideological strife.