“Burned alive”, the story of Ion Cazacu, in a book by Dario Fo

The tragic story of Ion Cazacu, the Romanian tiler who, on 12 April 2000, was burned alive by a building contractor from Gallarate, and who died after one month of atrocious suffering, has been made into a book, written by the Nobel prize winner Dario Fo.

Yesterday, Wednesday 25 March, Dario Fo was a guest on the television programme Le Invasione Barbariche, and during the interview with Daria Bignardi, he spoke about the book, and about other things.

“We are a country of misinformed people who continue to forget everything that happens. We’re all responsible, Especially the intellectuals,” was how Fo began.

And it is also in order not to forget that the book “Un Uomo Bruciato Vivo”, published by Chiarelettere, available on 10 April, was written. Co-authored by Cazacu’s daughter, Florina, it describes Ion’s story. “We, often indifferent, spectators are all guilty of this disgraceful act,” Fo said. “It’s incredible, but it happened, and continues to happen. The story of Ion Cazacu, an innocent victim of the blind violence of his employer, is not an isolated one. Another two Kosovar labourers were killed in the Marches by a local entrepreneur; their mistake, and that of Cazacu, was to expect to be paid, to demand their contracts be respected.”

For years, Dario Fo wanted to tell this story, which had also shocked Franca Fame; now, with the help of Cazacu’s daughter, Florina, he can remind people of the consequences of violence that was so merciless that it seemed impossible it could happen. Or be repeated. And today, Florina’s husband, a tiler like Ion, is also threatened, and has been the victim of violence and abuse of power.

“In the jungle of the employment market, particularly in the building sector, there are no rules; it is the people with the power that win. And as Florina proves, our justice system is not always able to make the truth and the law stand.”

Florina Cazacu was born in Romania in 1982, and came to Italy in 2000, after her father’s tragic death, with the hope of getting justice, and the idea of returning to Romania immediately. But that is not how it went. Now she lives in Gallarate, the very town where her father was attacked.

Cosimo Iannece, the building contractor who poured petrol over Cazacu and set fire to him, was sentenced first to thirty years, but then his sentence was reduced. Then, Fo said this on the programme, “This is what happened. One day, as Florina was leaving her house, she saw Iannece walking calmly around town.”