Premier Giorgia Meloni is "not happy" about a major political row sparked by Marcello De Angelis, the head of communications for the Lazio regional government, saying that three of the far-right terrorists convicted of the 1980 Bologna train station bombing are innocent, Lazio Governor Francesco Rocca said Monday.
The attack killed 85 people and injured 200 more, making it the worst of Italy's 'Years of Lead' of political violence in the 1970s and 80s.
De Angelis said via social media that he knew "for certain" that three of the five people convicted of the bombing, Giusva Fioravanti, Francesca Mambro and Luigi Ciavardini, former members of the NAR right-wing terrorist group, "had nothing to do with the Bologna massacre".
He said the August 2 anniversary of the bombing "is always a very difficult day for anyone who knows the truth, which every year is trampled over, even by the highest figures of the State".
"I'll see Marcello De Angelis and I'll listen to what he has to say," Rocca said on the sidelines of an event in Latina.
"De Angelis made a big mistake by talking about certainty, even if he was speaking only for himself.
"I'll make my evaluations, although he does not have a political role in the regional administration.
"I speak to Meloni very often and we have had the opportunity to talk.
"She asked me to clarify and she certainly was not happy about what happened".
The comments sparked outrage from the parties opposed to Rocca's right-wing regional executive in Lazio, who said De Angelis was trying to re-write history and called for him to quit or be fired.
De Angelis, a former member of the Terza Posizione (Third Position) neo-fascist group, responded to the row by comparing himself to Giordano Bruno, the Italian philosopher burned at the stake in 1600 by the Catholic Church for heresy.
"I said what I think without fear of the consequences," De Angelis said on Facebook.
"If I have to pay for this and be set alight like Giordano Bruno for having breached a dogma, I am proud to do so".
Meloni, the leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, came under fire from several opposition politicians on the 43rd anniversary of the Bologna bombing last week for not specifying that the attack was of a neo-fascist nature, something President Sergio Mattarella did.
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