Aldo Moro was tipped to be Italy's next prime minister. On March 16, 1978, he was kidnapped in broad daylight by commandos of the Red Brigade (Brigate Rosse). For 54 days, Italy was kept in suspense about the fate of this politician, who was respected across party lines. His body was found in the trunk of a Renault parked in a narrow street between the headquarters of the governing Christian Democrats and the Communist Party: the two seemingly irreconcilable parties that he might have brought together in a historic compromise. He had been killed by a shot in the neck.
This was one of the pivotal turning points in post-war Italy, but also in European history. The facts have never completely come to light. Were the terrorists acting on their own? Were they merely an instrument in the hands of sinister political powers that had an interest in this brilliant politician's disappearance? Cesare Davolio's CD-ROM Annunciation is a precise re-creation of Moro's imprisonment and death; a personal, digital essay about a historical event which grew to be a contemporary drama with classical overtones, partly because of Moro's evocative letters to his family, the press and fellow party members, to whom he wrote: My blood shall be upon you.
With introductions by Arie Altena (Davolio brings us closer to what happened in the month and a half of Moro's abduction) and Dirk van Weelden (It's more likely that Andreotti saw his chance to be rid of the radical left once and for all, while sidelining the communists) and a personal comment of 'eye-witness' Salvatore Puglia (To this very day, I'm reluctant to go to Rome.)
translation JAMES BOEKBINDER
