VIAREGGIO
“At the sight of two armed and masked criminals fleeing on a motorbike after having savagely beaten and robbed the owner of a business, he did not hesitate, despite being unarmed, to chase them in his own car. Having reached the fugitives, he managed to stop their vehicle but, in an attempt to stop the criminals, he was hit in the heart by a gunshot that one of the two robbers fired at him from close range. Magnificent example of high civic sense and extraordinary courage pushed to the limit to the supreme sacrifice. Viareggio, 9 June 1984”.
This is the motivation with which on 15 July 1985, the heroic protagonist of that episode, the merchant Athos Dainelli, 53 years old, was awarded the gold medal for civil valor in memory by the then President of the Republic, Francesco Cossiga How many in the city remember this episode from 40 years ago, round and round, like today? How many people born after 1984 are aware of this terrible story that transformed Athos Dainelli into a true common hero, one who did not turn the other way when faced with a criminal episode, paying with death for his reaction against two criminals?
We believe there are few: family members, relatives and close friends, also because in 40 years there has been no way – something boils in time anyway, better late than never – to remember Athos with something lasting over time in the city. We’ll see. June 9, 1984 was a Saturday at the end of spring, with summer beginning to appear. Athos Dainelli, owner of a laundry in Varignano, left work around 7.30pm. “I’ll pop in and get my hair done at Bicchio,” he said to his family. “As soon as I get back, we’ll have dinner.”
He never returned home because half an hour later Athos, a brave man with a heart of gold, was unable to remain aloof in the face of what appeared before his eyes. While he was at the barber’s, he saw two young robbers who attacked the adjacent tobacco shop managed by Elio Pollastrini. Screams, threats, beating of the robbery victim “because there is a pittance in the till, take the money out”. Seventy thousand lire. “Help, help” shouts Pollastrini, while the two bandits pepper him with blows.
Athos Dainelli is a man of one piece, a generous man. Faced with those calls for help, he doesn’t think about it for a moment: he leaves the barber’s salon and, driving his car, starts chasing the two bandits who escaped with the meager loot, riding a scooter. “Now I’ll stop you” thinks Athos, with enthusiasm towards others, not with the intention of being an improvised sheriff. He manages to stop the bandits, he gets out of the car placed sideways on the road to prevent the bandits’ motorbike from starting again, he thinks of confronting them with his words. His intent is laudable, but he doesn’t take into account the gun that one of the two boys, the youngest, is holding: a gunshot goes off aimed at his heart. Athos Dainelli died instantly.
The bandits take possession of his car and flee, trying to cover their tracks. They are probably trying to build an alibi, because when the Carabinieri of the Viareggio company catch them sitting at a table in a bar, where they are playing cards, they pretend to fall from the clouds. “We haven’t left here for a couple of hours…”. Their alibi doesn’t hold up. They end up in handcuffs. The carabinieri who solve the case in no time – including Marshal Giulio Lazzeri – will then receive a solemn commendation for the timeliness with which the case was solved.
“Athos Dainelli was truly a great man”, has always said the non-commissioned officer of the force, historical memory of the ‘black Viareggio and Versilia’, Carabinieri side. The shooter was 19 years old at the time: he was sentenced to 25 years; his accomplice, a little older, at 18 years old. They served their sentence. But in his time, they took advantage of bonus permits and sometimes, in the city, they met the eyes and glances of Athos Dainelli’s children. The death of the heroic merchant was compensated by the State with a check of five hundred thousand lire. No, the figure is not missing a few zeros. Five hundred thousand lire. If at the time. Had Athos Dainelli been killed by a terrorist, red or black, or by a bandit who would then declare himself a political prisoner, the compensation would have been decidedly higher…. Italian things from the 80s, the leaden years of our history .
Giol
