Letter in "the world" to her Black Cross comrades in Milan

From Biblioteca Anarchica L'idea
November 8, 2025

On November 5, compagna Gabriella Bergamaschini (born Aug. 13, 1950, in Crema, Italy) died in Gattinara.

Gabriella was a member of the libertarian circle “L.A. Scribante” in Gattinara and editor of the mimeographed “L'Agitatore,” which she published from 1979 to 1989. Her comrades were Giuseppe Ruzza (born in Adria May 6, 1923 and died in Gattinara January 2, 2003) and Delfina Stefanuto (born in 1929 and died in Gattinara April 15, 2002), both partisans.

On the morning of September 17, 1983, a firefight occurred in Milan with the occupants of a passenger car. The driver was killed, a companion managed to escape only to be arrested, and a woman managed to lose her trail. Investigators later claimed that the woman was Gabriella and searched everywhere for her to no avail.

At 4 p.m. the same day, Carabinieri raided the homes of Delfina and Giuseppe, ravaging the apartments in search of weapons and explosives, and of elements to prove their supposed connection to some clandestine armed organization. They were arrested for participation in an armed gang called COLP (Communists Organized for Proletarian Liberation). For Gabriella the charge was armed gang organization.

She ran to the woods and sent a letter from the world to her Black Cross comrades in Milan (see below).

In 1986 she was arrested in France for carrying false documents. Released after a few months, she lived in Paris for a few years and then returned to Italy once her sentence was prescribed.

She continued to maintain relations with surviving comrades and retreats until she fell ill.

Of her we remember her commitment to the struggles, her stubbornness and determination. The sympathetic and unconditional support for the prisoners and hatred for all injustices.

Ciao Gabriella, you have gone as you have often struggled...in the shadows, but not for us.

- Comrades from Biella and Milan

From the World, December 24, 1983

It's time to put an end to this filthiness from those in power and their tormentors! Only they dare to construct anything just to silence our comrades, whose only fault (in their opinion) is being anarchists and therefore bearers of truth and solidarity, as in the case of Gattinara.

EVERYONE knew full well the role the Scribante Libertarian Circle had and what it did!! They always tried to silence it, but without success; now, due to the incident that occurred in Milan on September 17, 1983, and since Fiorina and Sava were from Biella (editor's note: this refers to the shooting that took place in Milan on Via San Gemignano in which Gaetano Sava was killed and Francesco Fiorina was arrested), they seized upon the opportunity to create connections (fantastic to say the least) with the libertarian circle.

We must not allow this and all the other deliberate and intentional maneuvers to continue! Our task is to shove the truth in the faces of the proletariat, to expose the true face of power, and then to overthrow it!

We've all read what the journalists/cops wrote about our two comrades. Interviews that never took place, materials described as "interesting" that were actually letters from prison that had already been "censored," notes for composing "L'Agitatore," and, last but not least, "enlistments" (yes, exactly! "Enlistments" surely refer to and mean that the libertarian circle was frequented by dangerous "terrorists," since their twisted imaginations certainly couldn't have been mutual friends), and that's it: these are the elements that led to our inquisition!

The truth is this: they wanted to close the club, the newspaper, forever, and get rid of us who had given it life.

The charge is “participation in an armed gang” for Giuseppe and Delfina and “organization of an armed gang” for me!

It would be laughable, if it weren't for the confinement Delfina and Giuseppe find themselves in. And my current state of clandestinity is a reality; clandestinity due ONLY to the fact that now, thanks to their Lordships, I'm out and about, far from my classmates, lest I too be arrested!

I want to emphasize that this forced "disappearance" of mine is certainly not intended to confirm any involvement of mine, past or present, in any armed group: it's simply my desire not to end up gagged and rotting in prison preemptively awaiting the usual show trial, given my obvious distrust of the injustice of power. This is certainly what "they" want: to force their comrades into hiding! To isolate us, to distance us in order to demonstrate a pre-packaged reality for their own use and consumption, which will then allow them to destroy us with greater approval and consensus. But we will not allow this! We cannot allow it! And this is the primary purpose of this public letter of mine.

More and more against prisons, against the State and all its violence.

FREEDOM FOR DELFINA AND GIUSEPPE AND FOR ALL PROLETARIANS.

LONG LIVE ANARCHY!!!

A huge hug to everyone, especially those in prison, with the certain hope of being able to do so directly very soon!

Lots of kisses

Gabriella Bergamaschini

Letter published in the GATTINARA DOSSIER – Stories of judicial madness in the province – National Anarchist Coordination against Repression (edited by) – Edizioni Anarchismo March 1984

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