Franco Anselmi
Franco Anselmi (1 March 1956 – 6 March 1978) was an Italian neofascist who joined the Armed Revolutionary Nuclei (NAR), a small terrorist group on the far right. He was born in Bologna and later lived in Florence and Rome, where he studied at the Kepler XI Liceo Scientifico. He developed nationalist and far-right views in school, and after being attacked by left-wing students in 1972, he spent three months in a coma and later had vision problems. Because of his disability, friends nicknamed him “the blind man of Urbino.”
In 1975 he joined the youth wing of the Italian Social Movement (MSI). He took part in a 1975 demonstration linked to the Primavalle fire, an arson attack that killed a left-wing activist’s family member and sparked further violence. Mantakas, a friend of Anselmi, was killed during that event, an act that helped push Anselmi toward more radical actions. In 1976 he was involved in clashes at a neofascist rally that led to the death of Luigi Di Rosa, a young communist activist.
Around 1977, Anselmi and other neo-fascist militants formed an informal armed group. They began carrying out robberies and arson against left-wing targets, and the group began using the name NAR in December 1977. They attacked political offices and offices of newspapers in late 1977 and early 1978.
On 6 March 1978, during a gun-shop robbery in Rome, Anselmi was killed. He was the last to leave the shop and, according to witnesses, was trying to disguise the robbery as the work of drug addicts when he was shot by Daniele Centofanti.
After his death, the NAR praised Anselmi as a heroic figure. Centofanti was later awarded a national medal in 1987 for stopping the robbery, with the award noting his “contempt of danger” and “civic sense.” In 2019, a memorial ceremony for Anselmi drew criticism when some attendees gave fascist salutes.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 23:17 (CET).