Davide, known to his friends as Dax, was a lorry driver and antifascist, from Rozzano, just outside Milan.

He was murdered by fascists outside a bar on Via Brioschi in Milan on the 16th of March, 2003.

Rozzano was a tough, working class neighbourhood, the type that could often be targeted by fascists, attempting to recruit disaffected young people to their cause. Dax was one of these youths briefly taken in by far-right ideas and aesthetics, before becoming an antifascist. In the documentary about Dax’s life, and the antifascist scene in Milan constructed around his memory –Brucia Ancora Dentro – a friend of Dax recalls;

My first memory of Davide was him in a black bomber jacket, handing out right wing leaflets. My second memory of him is with a Keffiyeh around his neck, and so much will to fight.

Davide and his friends moved from Rozzano to Milan to engage in wider antifascist struggle, and joined the ORSo collective, on Via Gola, in the Ticinese quarter of Milan.

Via Gola and the surrounding area were full of squats and abandoned spaces where radicals could dream of and plan a better world.

Dax was particularly drawn to the housing struggles of families in Ticinese, and fought against police during evictions. He was also active in AREA, the antifascist collective based at ORSo, involved in intelligence work and physical resistance against fascists, across Milan and beyond.

Dax was also involved in R.A.S.H, where he was again in the front line of physical resistance to fascism.

On the evening of the 16th of March, 2003, Davide and two friends were visiting a regular haunt, a bar on Via Gola, and were approached by fascists outside. Insults were exchanged, and as they clashed, with Davide in front, as always, the fascists pulled knives. One stabbed Davide in the throat. Davide and his friends were stabbed 19 times in total.

His killers, a father and his two sons, well known for their fascist views, later admitted that it had been a premeditated attack.

As Dax lay motionless on the floor, and and his comrades lay wounded beside him, their friends began to arrive. So did police and Carabinieri, who blocked the arrival of ambulances.

Dax was eventually lifted into an ambulance and taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The hospital was filled by Dax’s comrades – but also, by police, who began to taunt and mock the mourning antifascists. As this was occurring, riot police vans began pulling up outside the hospital.

The night ended with many of Dax’s comrades wounded, blood spilled across the floor of the hospital. Beaten with weapons, by tens of police. Some subsequently had to undergo surgery, another suffered permanent kidney damage. Many lost teeth or had broken noses.

Since Dax’s death, and these scenes at the hospital, now known as the Notte Nera, the antifascist movement in Milan has been constructed around the memory of Dax. This began with a corteo antifascista through the streets of Milan on the 22nd March, 6 days after Davide was murdered. Each year, to the current day, antifascists from Milan, across Italy, and beyond, march in Dax’s memory.

Davide’s family and friends continue his struggle to this day.

I had shared a piece of my life with Davide. We had walked side by side. So I chose to continue walking that path. His strength and his energy became part of me. From him, I inherited a family and friendships that became visceral and profound, and which I know I’ll never break from.

In memory of Davide, on the 23rd anniversary of his death.