Monday morning, 19 October, at the University of Bari Aldo Moro: on the façade of Palazzo Ateneo and on street furniture in Piazza Cesare Battisti, after the night, swastikas and other symbols appeared, plus slogans praising remigration. ANSA and la Repubblica, on the same note from the student organisation Cambiare rotta. Unknown people, black paint. This is not a rectorate communiqué. It is not a case file with identified authors.

Besides the symbols, la Repubblica’s headline also keeps the slogan “Pesta il maranza” — a violent Italian jibe aimed at young people labelled that way. That is the press wording, not a verdict of ours. Posters put up by Cambiare rotta for the general strike on 30 October were also torn down. The reported facts stop there.

The organisation says that, after recent weeks of protests against the Meloni government, “qualcuno dall'altra parte rosicava” and smeared the university with “simboli e scritte fasciste”. Further: austerity policy would come with “lo sdoganamento dei gruppi fascisti” in universities, schools and cities. Those are their lines. We have not written that the government sent anyone. We have not written that a named group is proven.

The note’s close, still Cambiare rotta: anyone who thinks they can intimidate them “con sanzioni e provvedimenti repressivi” gets “la lotta e la mobilitazione”. Their answer, not an inquiry. ANSA reprints the same note, without a police or university confirmation in Monday’s text.

Corriere di Bari, on the same episode, ties it to the same public denunciation. No names there either. No search there either. We have not mixed the episode with other Bari school swastikas from different months: this is the night of 18–19 October, at Palazzo Ateneo and in the square.

Swastikas and slogans, after a student note. Unknown authors. Not a verdict on “fascist groups” in the city.

Image: façade of the University of Bari Aldo Moro, 24 September 2022, Augusto Aulenta, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The building, not Monday’s paint.

Sources consulted: Scritte neofasciste all'Università di Bari, 'vogliono intimidirci' — ANSA Puglia; “Pesta il maranza”: svastiche e scritte neofasciste all’Università di Bari — la Repubblica Bari.