Renato Ricci

Renato Ricci is presented as a Fascist leader in the Carrara area whose local campaign of intimidation brought him into conflict with Sarzana’s opponents. His arrest there became the immediate cause of an armed expedition intended to free him and retaliate against the town’s Communist stronghold. The episode shows both the reach of Fascist squad violence and its limits when it confronted organized resistance and hostile state forces.

Regional Leadership

The narrative describes Ricci as a leader who had subdued almost the entire Carrara region by terrorizing its inhabitants. He wore a brigand’s fez and had repeatedly tried to storm Sarzana, a stronghold of his political opponents. During one such failed attempt, Carabinieri arrested him and members of his squad on the dry bed of the Magra River, among willows along its banks.

The Expedition to Sarzana

Ricci’s arrest prompted a force of Florentine Fascists led by Amerigo Dumini to spend the night on the beach at Avenza before advancing on Sarzana. The expedition was intended both to secure Ricci’s release and to exact retaliation against the town’s Communists. Dumini presented those demands to the Carabinieri, who rejected them. The confrontation escalated into an exchange of fire; peasants in the surrounding countryside also resisted the advancing Fascists, and the surviving members of the expedition took refuge in the station.

Release and Significance

Despite the failure to storm Sarzana, Dumini obtained Ricci’s release from prison. The surviving squad members were escorted to a special train and sent back from the area. Ricci’s release therefore emerged not from a successful assault on the town but from negotiations following the expedition’s collapse. In this episode, his arrest serves as the personal stake around which a wider conflict gathers: Fascist squads seek to impose their will through organized violence, while local resistance and state forces prevent them from securing the victory they expected.