Where is comrade Federico Guglielmo Florio?

Present

I watched episodes of Mussolini: Son of the century, I liked it a lot because its narration is far closer to how I view history and the world as this chaotic jumbled mess of treason and confusion.

Here I will place a translation of the article that talks about Federico Florio and squadristi cells in Prato from the Italian-language paper and the English-language paper that talks about the fall out after his death (I don’t like it that well because it takes a lot longer to make the point related to relevance of small episodes of everyday violence).

Before

English quotes from Squadristi, notabili, funzionari. Il fascismo a Prato dalle origini al crollo del regime, pages 59-66.

Fascism carried out its first squad action only on April 17, 1921, about two months after the terrible days of Florence. The violent action was certainly favored by the membership of the Prato Fascist Party of some personalities from the world of combat and veteranism. Two figures particularly left their mark on the Prato Fascist Party: the president of the local section of the A.N.C., Tito Cesare Canovai, former teacher at the Convitto Cicognini and future mayor and prefect, and the former lieutenant of the Arditi and former legionary from Fiume Federico Guglielmo Florio. However, the violent action of April 1921 against the textile city is not to be ascribed so much to the Prato fascist circles as to the Florentine squads. To date, we can only count thirty-two names of Prato fascists guilty of “violence and devastation” both in the city of Prato and in the then hamlet of Vaiano. Led by Tamburini from Vaiano, who had previously worked for the Forti company, and supported by elements from many other areas of Italy, the Florentine fascists joined forces with the few members of the Prato fascist group to lay waste to the city: the town hall was invaded, the Chamber of Labour was destroyed, some clubs were set on fire, many socialist and communist figures were beaten and forced to sign declarations certifying the abandonment of the positions they had held until then. That same afternoon Vaiano was occupied by fourteen trucks full of fascists followed by an armoured police car. In full war gear, the fascists began shooting wildly and began a real manhunt as soon as they arrived in town: the Chamber of Labor (Camere del Lavoro) was set on fire, the consumer cooperative was set on fire and the same fate was suffered by some houses including that of the well-known manager, Battista Tettamanti. At the end of the day, the fascist fury leaves two dead and thirteen wounded on the soil of Vaiano.

The violence has a limited impact on the following May's electoral round. The electoral result in Prato shows how the socialists substantially maintain their positions, also taking into account the split of the communists. Considering the fascist violence and intimidation, which in some sections even goes as far as to completely cancel the votes assigned to the communist list, the performance of the socialists in Prato comes very close to victory. In the S. Giusto section, the votes of the communist list are contested by the representatives of the fascist list because the symbol on the ballots is different from the one displayed on the posters. This protest also occurs in other polling stations but, while in the other cases the various presidents of the sections rightly refuse the complaint by claiming that the symbol is consistent with the one filed in court, in S. Giusto there is silence in the face of the «[...] obstinacy of the representatives of the list whose symbol is a sheaf of wheat». In the face of similar episodes, the socialists report a result close to 42% of preferences with 5999 votes out of 14,500 voters. Taking into account also the split of the communists who are around 10% with 1475 votes and the fascist violence, the result obtained by the socialists is to be considered excellent. The result is also supported by the fact that the percentage of voters reaches 80%, the highest ever recorded up to that time.

The election result must not mask the brutality displayed by the squads in Prato.

Starting in March 1921, the nearby town of Carmignano became a place where «[...] the stick brandished by a criminal who respects neither the old nor the woman nor the child reigns supreme». A similar situation was created by the controversial events following the killing of the Carabinieri Pucci and Verdini. Attributed to the Carmignano socialist organization, the event would lead to the complete disarray of the PSI in Carmignano. Fascist violence and court sentences implemented the full liquidation of Carmignano socialism. The town of Carmignano was placed under special administration from the beginning of the following month. The socialists implicated received sentences ranging from 11 to 14 years.

From April 1921, Prato fascism took on a violent charge that reverberated in a continuous succession of attacks, beatings, wounding and killings. The violence of Prato fascism was not limited to the city walls but spread like wildfire to the villages and towns closest to it. Destruction of associations and clubs, attacks on socialist and communist exponents occurred both in the Prato plain (La Querce, Narnali, Tavola, S.Giusto, Cafaggio, Iolo, Casale, Mezzana, Pizzidimonte) and in the Valdibisenzio (S.Lucia, Vaiano, Vernio, Luicciana, Cantagallo, Il Fabbro, Usella, Montepiano). An example of this are the tragic events of Migliana: following the killing of the fascist shoemaker Agostino Santi, the small village in Valbisenzio was devastated by the squads. The violence of Prato fascism reached its peak at the end of June 1921. On the night of June 25, a new wave of violence hit the Tuscan textile center. Fascist squads once again poured into the streets of the city and targeted the homes, businesses and offices of socialist and communist political leaders. Socialist councilor Giulio Braga was savagely beaten and left to die in front of his daughter.

This violent charge did not stop or even diminish following the so-called “pacification pact”. Throughout 1921, Prato fascism systematically implemented the means of violence as a natural instrument for politics. According to periodical publications, between April and September 1921, 83 squadrist expeditions could be recorded in the Prato district alone.

In Prato, the violence also took the crisis in the textile industry as a pretext. The city was now monolithically oriented towards this sector and, for this reason, the crisis caused widespread unemployment. The crisis was due to the phenomenon of overproduction and the fall in prices that followed the inflationary phase of the immediate post-war period.

The cost of living index number increased by 18.31% while wholesale prices decreased by 9%. Companies had to see the value of their stocks drop enormously and face the demands for wage increases. The losses for the wool mills were such that they cancelled out all the profits of the previous year. The seriousness of the crisis is demonstrated by the number of workers in the textile sector: in 1920, approximately 7,500 textile workers can be counted out of a total population of about 59,662 inhabitants. In December of that same year, the number of workers in the industry reached 23,650 units. The risk of unemployment loomed over almost half of the people of Prato. For their part, the industrialists responded by reducing wages and increasing working hours, all this while the cost of living continued to rise incessantly. Furthermore, the industrialists warned the workers not to return to the workplace without accepting these conditions. Faced with such demands, the workers went on general strike starting on August 11.

The fascist group takes advantage of this situation to promote the creation of an Apolitical Economic Union (Sindacato Apolitico Economico) to oppose the workers' organizations. Furthermore, through a manifesto, the fascists propose themselves as the "guardians of freedom of work" and affirm their commitment to defend workers who intend to return to work. In reality, the fascists use this excuse to force textile workers to work with threats and public beatings. Such a situation is allowed by the indifference if not the connivance of the police with the squads. The increasing trend of the brutality of Prato fascism is parallel to a dizzying growth in the membership of the fascist group. If the membership more than doubled in March, by November the number of fascists is around three hundred units. A good part of them is made up of ex-combatants who transfer the situation present on the battlefields into the context of civil society. They interpreted the fight against political adversaries as a real war and, for this purpose, used weapons, clubs, pistols and even hand grenades. The squad leaders themselves, such as Duilio Sanesi or Alpo Benelli, launched appeals to «[...] not abandon the field and continue in the assiduous work of moral reconstruction now begun». The group of ex-combat squad members was supported both morally and financially by some of the major exponents of the Prato nobility and the industrial class of the city. Real lords of the Prato textile industry, the various Romeis, Calamais, Fortis... contributed more or less consistently to the affirmation of fascism. This support was also manifested in a further characteristic of the squads: a direct adhesion by the nobility. The sons of the industrialist Lemmo Romei, the surgeon Aurelio Dami, son of the notary Camillo, as well as Guido Bemporad, who later succeeded his father Arturo as director of the Stabilimenti Forti, were all members of the Prato Fascist Party before the march. Giovanni Romei is also cited for "cruelty and sectarianism" in the post-war period. It is easy to see how there was a double component in the first Prato Fascism: following the example of the famous Piero Ginori Conti, the members of the Prato Fascist Party could be both ferocious squad members and respected notables.

In this context, we must take into consideration the leading figure of the first Prato Squadrism: Federico Guglielmo Florio. Florio represents the archetype of the original Prato fascist. A former student at Cicognini with poor performance, the fascist native of Gaeta was a former and daring fighter on secondary war fronts such as Albania and Libya. After the war, he joined Gabriele D’Annunzio’s legionaries, taking part in the occupation of Fiume (1919-1920). A veteran of Fiume, he returned to Tuscany at the beginning of 1921, enrolling first in the Florentine Fascist Party and then in the Prato Fascist Party. He never took up the post of secretary of the Prato Fascist Party, but very soon emerged as the leading figure of Prato Fascism, being the first to be elected at the time of the renewal of the elective offices. His status as a former combatant masked his nature as a vagabond, also demonstrated by his lack of a profession. Indicative of a failure to fully reintegrate into civil society, Florio’s professional qualifications are not present in any official document. Nonetheless, Florio was an element supported by the industrial class, which also had direct ties with some of the more well-known families of local industrialists.

Federico Guglielmo Florio asserts his nature as a «[...] violent and vagabond bourgeois». On Florio's initiative, the Prato squad members are reorganized into the so-called “Death Squad” or “D’Annunzio Squad” with which the former legionary from Fiume spends entire days searching for striking workers and urging them to return to work as soon as possible. Those who do not obey are savagely beaten and Florio himself whips them until they bleed on the legs and face. The squad action of the former Cicogninian does not stop only in the Prato area: he also carries out expeditions to Sesto Fiorentino, Vinci and Pistoia itself. Florio is so dedicated to these operations that the vice-pretor himself defines him as responsible for acting «[...] on the sole impulse of brutal wickedness». The textile strike is crushed in early November. The Apolitical Economic Union accepts the industrialists' proposals and forces the workers to lower their wages and increase their working hours. Prato fascism is celebrated at the time of the foundation of the P.N.F. The Prato Fascist Party sends Duilio Sanesi, Raffaello Nesti and, obviously, Federico Guglielmo Florio to represent it. On this occasion, the Prato squad member meets personally with Mussolini and also following this meeting the leader himself will affirm that «[...] there [has not been], in recent times, a battle in which [the honour and interests of Italy were] at stake, without Federico Florio [having found himself] in his place of responsibility, courage, glory». Federico Guglielmo Florio is a protagonist of the first Prato fascism in life and in death. Already on 24 November 1921, Florio is wounded following an attack aimed at him near Piazza delle Carceri. The Central Committee of the newly formed PNF section of Prato identified those responsible as representatives of communism and socialism in Prato. In a circular, the executive commission chaired by Duilio Sanesi spoke of «[...] vile communist ambushes» against which the fascists «[...] await, painful and trembling, the battle cry». In this context, Florio also received a medal of valor at the end of December.

January 1922 marked the definitive turning point for the rule of fascism in Prato. On January 11, tired of the harassment suffered several times by Florio and his team, the communist worker Cafiero Lucchesi armed himself with a pistol and, after receiving yet another injustice, shot the fascist leader from Prato, leaving him dying on the asphalt of Via del Serraglio, in the center of Prato. Wounded in the lower abdomen, Florio, «[...] a very sad figure of Prato fascism, a true political criminal…» will die in a hospital corridor after seven days of agony.

Florio's death was crucial to the fascist seizure of power. The reaction that was generated following the wounding of the former Cicogninian resulted in numerous acts of violence. The city of Prato was put to fire and sword by fascist squads, some of which came from nearby Florence. The Chamber of Labor was devastated, the entire municipal council was forced to resign, numerous socialist and communist exponents were taken from their homes to be beaten and, only later, taken to the Pretura. When Florio died in his hospital room, Prato was now a city in the hands of fascism.

Just a month later, Prato was «[...] a city that changed face». Due to the resignation of the socialist Papi council, the administrative vacuum created in the Prato area was exploited by the fascists to take over the Tuscan textile center. The months following Florio's killing saw a daily emptying of the power of public institutions, waiting for the fascists themselves to directly take control of them.

Fascist violence was increasingly directed not only against socialist and communist organizations but also against Catholic organizations.

Florio's death was used as a pretext to deploy a widespread action aimed at wiping out all non-fascist organizations: if the latter had already been defeated in the days of the reprisals at the beginning of the year, however, the fascists aimed to wipe out their very existence from the entire Prato area. The squads moved in this direction by arranging real expeditions throughout the Prato area and carrying out interrogations that ended in intimidation and beatings against members of left-wing groups. The investigations organized by the Fascist Party lead to the arrest of the secretary of the Prato section of the P.C.d’I., Assuero Vanni, of the head of the F.G.C.I., Brunetto Pratesi, of the anarchists Anchise Ciulli and Rodolfo Sarti and of the then ardito del popolo Dino Saccenti. The violence carried out by fascism in those first months of 1922 did not stop with the imprisonment of those alleged to be responsible for Florio’s death. The fascists aimed to destroy “in toto” the left-wing parties by attacking them in their structures, in their leaders and in every possible institution.

The fascist action was also directed against Catholic exponents. The fascists were now aware of having defeated the left-wing organizations and intensified the pressure on individuals and organizations of Catholic origin. Prato fascism recognized in the Catholic and popular organizations an enemy «[...] even more insidious than the social-communists…» and prepared to render them harmless. Between the end of 1921 and the beginning of 1922, the Catholic leader Leopoldo Pieragnoli narrowly escapes a punitive squad expedition and the Manzoni Catholic club in Coiano is forced to close under threats from the fascists. On March 6, 1922, following the wounding of the fascist Brunetto Fossi in circumstances that have never been fully clarified, the fascists of Cafaggio besiege the house of Marino Olmi, leader of the Federmezzadri. Olmi is accused of wounding Fossi and only the intervention of the carabinieri saves him from being lynched by the crowd. The fascists turn not only against Olmi but also against the institutions closest to him. The premises of the Federmezzadri, located in the bishop's palace, are completely destroyed and only the intervention of the vicar Fantaccini prevents it from burning. The Toniolo Catholic club suffers the same fate. Violent beatings and insults are suffered both by other members of the “Toniolo” and by the members of the “Borsi” club. The secretary of the local section of the Partito Popolare, Armando Materassi is offended and spat in the face. Other popular leaders such as Pietro Gini and the lawyer Magnolfi, a war invalid, are beaten without restraint. The president of the club, Eugenio Faini and the leader Lorenzo Ceccatelli are insulted and beaten with fists and sticks. Having gone to the headquarters of the fascist party for appropriate clarifications, the two suffer a further fascist aggression.

After

Everything is a quote from the paper A micro-history of Fascist violence. Squadristi, victims and perpetrators

13 February 1922: It was dark; between 8.30 and 9 pm in winter. Most people in the countryside were already asleep. They had to wake up early, to work. Suddenly, at a place called the ‘old paperworks’, an isolated house close to the Bisenzio river, near Prato in Tuscany in Central Italy, the silence was broken by loud knocking on the door and shouting. A number of armed men were outside, and they had been drinking. It was not their first raid of the night. The men described themselves as fascists, and were looking for specific people – communists, they said, and they shot at the door. Instead of giving themselves up, the men inside the house fired back. One of the fascists were killed outright, and another was injured. The rest fled. By the time the police arrived, all the men had gone on the run, leaving the women in the house alone. By February 1922, events of this kind were commonplace. Fascist raids had taken place across the country throughout 1921. This article will take this one moment of ‘ordinary’, everyday fascist violence, and the subsequent investigation and trial into those events, as a basis for a deeper understanding of that violence in terms of emotions and victims in Italy in this key period

…

Let us be clear here: the shooting incident in the ‘old paperworks’ on the 12 February 1922 that forms the heart of this article was not important, in any classic historical sense. Nobody could argue that it changed Italy, or even Prato, or even the history of the zone where the Old Paperworks stood, in any significant way. This was a minor event – a footnote (and not even that) – in the bloody civil war which erupted across Italy after 1918. The Calamai raid and death barely merits a mention even in local histories of fascism. Nobody has bothered to find out what happened to the Fioravanti family after 1922. Nobody has studied the Fioravanti investigation and trial in 1924, whose documents can be found in a bulky folder in the Florence State Archive.

Sources:

Giaconi, Andrea. "Squadristi, notabili, funzionari. Il fascismo a Prato dalle origini al crollo del regime." QF. Quaderni di Farestoria, vol. 2-3, 2011, pp. 57-82. [top] [pdf]

Foot, J. M. (2022). A micro-history of Fascist violence. Squadristi, victims and perpetrators. Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 27(4), 528-549. https://doi.org/10.1080/1354571X.2022.2045454