A hand just went up in the virtual audience and I heard someone say, “The Brigate Rosse killed Emilio Bozzi in 1974”. It may be a little anti-climatic to give away the plot straight off, however the truth is that no one killed Emilio Bozzi.  Emilio Bozzi was born in Milan in 1873 and he died in Milan on September 21, 1936. I have not been able to find any information as to the cause of Bozzi’s death, but he died more than three decades before the left wing, paramilitary terrorist group known as the Brigate Rosse began their kidnapping and assassination efforts to destabilize Italy.

The internet is a wonderful thing that has enabled everyone to be a publisher, including myself.  However there is a lot of casual plagiarism or ‘cut, copy and paste’ when it comes to the content that is posted to websites, blogs, forums and chat groups. And there is a tendency to believe what you read when you come across the same information on many different sites, further reinforced when the same information or posts surface in different countries and languages. It is also worth noting that Mr. Google does not have a ‘truth filter’ on their search engine.

However a good tale retold a hundred times does not make it true. And this brings us to the many websites and posts that retell the dramatic tale of Emilio Bozzi coming to an end at the hands the Brigate Rosse in 1974. And I must admit to my own mindlessness in accepting this sensational ending to Bozzi’s life without a second thought.  Had I stopped for minute to do a little simple math, I would have realized that Emilio Bozzi would have to have been a child when he founded the company in 1908 in order to be assassinated 64 years later. In reality, Bozzi was about 29 years old when he struck up a business relationship with Franco Tosi (Wolsit) and 35 years old when he founded Emilio Bozzi S.p.A.

Let the punishment fit the crime as they say, so I must now carefully reread and edit every page and post on this website to acquit the Brigate Rosse of a crime they did not commit, or at least this crime.

References:

• Giorgio D’Ilario, Ciclismo a Legnano, Legnano, Famiglia Legnanese-Banca di Legnano, 1993, SBN IT\ICCU\MIL\0252489 
• Storia della Legnano , web.archive.org.
• Legnano (azienda)
• Legnano (ciclismo)
• Emilio Bozzi, Da Wikipedia

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