Viterbo school’s façade restored with fascist “Casa del Balilla” inscription, sparking protests

During renovation work on the historic façade of Liceo Mariano Buratti in Viterbo, the words “Casa del Balilla” – a reference to the fascist youth organisation – reappeared on the building’s fronton. The school is named after Mariano Buratti, a local teacher and decorated anti‑fascist partisan.

The Rete degli Studenti Medi of Viterbo condemned the inscription as an “outrage to the memory of the partisan” and demanded its immediate removal, urging the Ministry of Education and the provincial authorities to clarify how the work was authorised. Student representatives said the act was not a neutral restoration but a deliberate rewriting of history.

Local communist activists, including Irene Massimi, also denounced the move, calling it an intolerable insult to the Resistance and demanding that the post‑war removal of the original inscription be preserved as a testimony of restored democracy.