Italian police arrest seven suspected anarchists over high-speed rail sabotage during Milano Cortina Olympics

The arrests

Italian police on Tuesday arrested seven people suspected of forming an anarchist terrorist cell. Five were taken into custody and two were placed under house arrest, according to orders from a Rome judge. The charges include association with the aim of terrorism and subversion of the democratic order.

Two of the seven also face charges for the February 14 sabotage of the Rome-Florence high-speed rail line. Prosecutors say they used homemade explosives to damage the infrastructure, causing repair costs of 455,000 euros and disrupting train traffic.

The February 14 attack

An anarchist group claimed responsibility for the Rome-Florence attack and a simultaneous act of sabotage on the Rome-Naples line on a website that investigators say had been set up specifically some months before the attacks. The site is now offline.

The rail sabotage was part of a broader campaign of disruption during the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. On the first day of the Games, an explosion occurred on the Bologna-Padua line and a fire broke out in an electrical substation between Bologna and Ancona (also claimed online by anarchists protesting the Olympics). No injuries were reported in those incidents.

The cell's structure

Investigators say the group was based in Rome but maintained links with anarchist circles in Bologna, Forlì-Cesena, Milan and Naples. Police carried out searches in those cities, supported by local units. The National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate coordinated the operation.

“The group was structured according to known methods tested within the anarchist movement, designed to carry out violent subversive actions.”

A police video shows a secret meeting held in July 2025 at a farmhouse near Vicovaro, outside Rome. The footage captured participants arriving one by one, without mobile phones, and later burning their notes after the meeting.

Cospito motivation

Investigators say a key objective of the cell was to relaunch a campaign in support of Alfredo Cospito, an anarchist serving a long prison sentence under the strict 41-bis regime typically reserved for mafia convicts. His 41-bis status was recently extended by two years.

“With a lot of effort, something has to be done… force the state a bit to come to terms… keeping an anarchist in 41-bis means having headaches anyway!”

A conversation intercepted by police also mentions a possible reconnaissance action involving a McDonald's, discussed as a way to relaunch the Cospito campaign.

La7 studios on the target list

According to an intercepted conversation from January 11, 2026, one of the suspects, Francesco Benedetti, described a plan involving a KFC on Via Tiburtina. Investigators concluded the fast-food outlet was a staging point for reaching the real target: the De Paolis television studios next door, where broadcasts for the La7 network are recorded.

“Franci, you go in from the KFC… during the day, dressed as a worker… go with gloves, you play a completely different card.”

The 'little book on trains'

Searches also turned up a manual the suspects called the "little book on trains," obtained from a stall in Germany. The Rome judge wrote that it was probably the publication "Fiery Recipes," signed by Kommando Angry Birds and posted on the ispira-azione.noblogs.org site. It provides practical instructions for building homemade explosive devices.

“To protect it, wrap a piece of cardboard around the detonator, fixing it with electrician's ties. When you light the incense sticks, sparks usually develop at the tip. Eliminate them by shaking, not blowing.”

The investigation began with inquiries into the support network for Salvatore Vespertino, an anarchist arrested in Spain in February 2025 for a 2017 attack on a Casapound office in Florence.