“Italy Manages 40 US Nuclear Bombs”

This is one of the key moments of the book that almost nobody knows anything about, precisely because it is an absolutely secret treatise dating back to a long time ago. I would say that the most important thing is to emphasize that the Italian parliament has never dealt with this, which is why this agreement, made not between NATO and Italy, but between the United States and Italy, is classified as political and military secret. This means that all Italian governments, from the post-war period to the present day, have continued to implement the bilateral agreement between Washington and Rome. Center-left and center-right governments, yellow-green governments, tech governments – no one has ever questioned this type of contract.

It makes available to the Americans, i.e., the United States, two Italian bases in northern Italy, namely, Ghedi, in the province of Brescia, and Aviano, near Pordenone. Aviano is an American military base and is therefore under the command and control of the US Air Force, while Ghedi is an Italian military airport. In Ghedi, there used to be sixty American atomic bombs, now there are – I’m saying conventionally, because there is definitely no confirmation from the government – twenty, and in Aviano we have just as many bombs. These are gravity bombs.

The treaty was originally signed under the name “Washington Agreement” on January 27, 1950. Then, two years later, on January 7, 1952, a bilateral agreement on mutual security was confirmed, it is called the Rome Agreement.

Only a portion was declassified by D’Alema during the Cermis accident, when on February 3, 1998, a US Air Force NATO fighter took off from a base in Milan and, due to a low-altitude error, broke the ropes of the cable car, and several people died. So, it was an episode that caused a real commotion. The American pilot was acquitted. Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema has requested disclosure of some details of this treaty governing the use of the bases.

Italy has certain costs for maintaining bases. A more detailed study speaks about one hundred million euros of costs per year. This is an estimate made by Milex, a research center led by Francesco Vignarca. There is no budget item that could account for the costs of maintaining these bases. It should be emphasized that Italy is the only country in the European Union that has two bases designed to house and store American bombs. Just think what a scandal it would be if there was a similar situation involving countries like Russia or China with atomic bombs in European countries. So, it’s scandalous that it’s top secret, in the sense that no one talks about it and about the fact that bombs as such make up 40% of the US nuclear arsenal in Europe. There are other European bases with American atomic bombs in Germany, Belgium, Holland. However, Italy is the only country with two such bases.

Exactly. This is the point. The bottom line is that at the moment, after the invasion in Ukraine, it is obviously difficult to propose a withdrawal from NATO. However, over the next few years, if there is political will, one could think about membership in a Western military alliance instead, as well as about the elimination of American nuclear warheads from Italian territory. On paper, Italy is such a possible target that we are considered a hostile country both because of the weapons to Ukraine and because of the American atomic bombs. There is not only the risk of retaliation, but all the risks associated with the safety of the local population regarding possible accidents and terrorist attacks.