“The Bologna Station massacre stamped on Italy's identity an indelible mark of inhumanity by a ruthless neo-fascist subversive strategy that aimed to strike at constitutional values, social achievements and, with them, our very civil coexistence”. This was stated by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, on August 2 on the anniversary of the Bologna Massacre. “August 2, forty-five years ago,” the Head of State recalled, "with the mangled bodies, the many innocent dead, the immense suffering of family members, the upheaval of a city and, with it, of the entire national community, is in the memory of the country. Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, responded promptly and firmly, expressing all the solidarity of which they are capable, rejecting the destabilizing design, the complicity present even in State apparatuses, the plots of those who led the massacre hands. On the day of the anniversary,” he continued, “feelings of closeness are renewed to the families of the victims. Expression of a cohesive community that adheres to those democratic principles, which the perpetrators of the massacre wanted to erase, generating fear in order to undermine the institutions, trying to push the country towards authoritarian drifts, with responsibilities ascertained thanks to the tenacious work of Magistrates and servants of the State". The Bologna massacre was a neo-fascist bombing that took place at 10:25 a.m. on Saturday, August 2, 1980, at Bologna Central Station. A device, placed in the second-class waiting room, exploded, killing 85 people and injuring more than 200. It was the most serious terrorist attack committed in the country after World War II.