Corleone, January 2, 1914 — March 10, 1948
Placido Rizzotto
He was 34 years old. He organised farmworkers, occupied feudal estates, challenged the Mafia in the open.
On the evening of 10 March 1948 they waited for him outside a union meeting
and threw him into a sinkhole. His body was not found for sixty-one years.
«The land to those who work it.» — Battle cry of Sicilian farmworkers, 1940s
Who he was
A man who stood against Mafia power
Monument to Placido Rizzotto, Corleone.
Placido Rizzotto was born in Corleone on January 2, 1914, the eldest of seven children. After a childhood marked by poverty and the early loss of his mother, he fought as a partisan in the Garibaldi Brigades in the Carnic Alps. Returning to Sicily, he became secretary of the Corleone Chamber of Labour and the driving force behind the farmworkers' struggle to enforce the Gullo Decrees: unused latifondo lands to the peasant cooperatives.
This challenge put him on a collision course with Mafia boss Michele Navarra and the young Luciano Liggio. In a brawl in the town square, Rizzotto faced Liggio bare-handed and hung him by the collar from the iron railings of the municipal garden — a public humiliation Liggio never forgot. On the evening of March 10, 1948, Rizzotto was abducted, murdered, and thrown into a sinkhole on Mount Rocca Busambra. He was 34 years old.
His remains were not found until 2009 and were scientifically identified in 2012. On May 24 of that year, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano attended Rizzotto's State Funeral in Corleone.
Journalist Pippo Fava recounts Placido Rizzotto — video AccasFilm (2013).
Explore
Sections of this site
His Story
Roots in the Sicilian latifondo, the partisan Resistance, trade union activism and the fight for land reform.
Read the story →Justice
The murder of March 10, 1948, Dalla Chiesa's investigation, the failed trials, and the eventual recovery of his remains.
Go to the section →Legacy
The State Funeral, the Libera Terra cooperative, the anti-caporalato Observatory, and living memory.
Discover the legacy →Context
The Corleone Mafia, Michele Navarra, the rise of Liggio and the climate of terror in which Rizzotto chose to fight.
Go to context →
© foto di Mario Midulla
Key dates
A timeline
Born in Corleone
January 2. Eldest son of Carmelo Rizzotto and Giovanna Moschitta.
Partisan in the Garibaldi Brigades
After the September 8 armistice, he joins the Resistance in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
Secretary of the Chamber of Labour
October: elected secretary in Corleone. Organises the occupation of feudal estates.
Abduction and murder
March 10: abducted by Luciano Liggio on Navarra's orders. Body thrown into a sinkhole at Rocca Busambra.
Acquittal of the accused
Liggio, Criscione and Collura are acquitted for lack of evidence. The verdict becomes final in 1961.
Prefect Dalla Chiesa assassinated
3 September: Cosa Nostra kills General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa in Palermo — the same man who had investigated the Rizzotto murder thirty-two years earlier. His death accelerates the Rognoni–La Torre law (art. 416-bis).
Discovery of remains
July 7: the sinkhole at Rocca Busambra used by the Corleone Mafia is identified.
State Funeral
March 9: forensic police confirm the identity of the remains. May 24: State Funeral in Corleone with President Napolitano.