Why you don't mess with Italian farmers

Published 2024-08-05 by Zdravko Anticic

Whatever you do, don't mess with Italian farmers. The early 1970s saw one of the biggest infrastructure projects in Europe. Bigger than the mega airport Heathrow or the Öresund Bridge. This is the A12 highway in Liguria, Italy. A road that goes from Genova to Livorno, it is the most expensive road in European history.

It is an engineering marvel. The first part, from Genova to La Spezia, the road is almost never on the ground. It is always a bridge or a tunnel. For 120 kilometres.

This was very good news for many along the way. The state of Liguria expropriated land at an inflated price. Construction companies got lucrative contracts to blast tunnels or cast bridge foundations.

But, above all, this was really good news for politicians. An unimaginable amount of state money was arguably stolen by the political elite in the area.

Part of the road was to pass through a village just north of La Spezia. When the municipality sold the land, the money would of course go to the city. Schools would be refurbished, medical and elderly care would be provided, and so on. But very little of this happened.

One day, however, the mayor had a huge swimming pool. Later, both daughters drove brand new BMWs. A few years later he had renovated his house. Money was pouring in. Everyone knew that the money came from the road construction. The mayor made no attempt to be discreet about his newfound wealth.

Of course, he lost the next election. But the money was gone without a trace. The villagers then tried to sue the mayor. But with good lawyers, he got away. What saved him was that the statute of limitations expired after ten years. He walked away with several million euros in his pocket in today's money.

The situation among the villagers was desperate. They had been cheated. But, the best laugh was the last laugh, as we say in Sweden. For every New Year, a big fireworks display was organised in the village. Everyone who lived in the village was at the square.

According to tradition, the villagers has chosen a prominent person to start the fireworks by pushing a button, and they had chosen the former mayor to have the honor this particular New Year. At midnight he pressed the big red button. In front of thousands of people gathered in the square.

What happened next was epic. Because there were no fireworks set off.

Instead, there was a deafening roar. The sound was sharp and echoed in the valley. It was the corrupt mayor's luxuriously renovated villa, at the side of the hill, clearly visible from the village square.

It exploded in a cloud of marble, gold shower heads, window panes and ceiling panels. Little bits of swimming pool rained down on the crowd in the square.

The villagers were ecstatic. They laughed and howled with joy. The blast was so powerful that a burnt rearview mirror from a black BMW was found several kilometers away.

With no legal means left to recover the money, the villagers had taken matters into their own hands. On New Year's Eve, while the mayor was having dinner in the village, they had broken into the villa.

They had placed as much explosives as they could get their hands on in the basement. Also, they had made sure the house was empty of people, and had taken the mayor's daughter's little dog with them.

The elegant part, was to trick the former mayor to press the button. It was he himself who had blown up his own house. Therefore, the mayor later lost in court against the villagers. He got exactly zero on the insurance. Revenge was sweet.

I've been looking online. Asked people. And I can't find any evidence that this actually happened. However, a lot of people are talking about it. It's a lovely local legend that may have some truth to it. Or not. A swimming pool blown up. And it serves its purpose. Because corruption in the area is now the lowest in Italy.