Torzo points to photographs taken just after the start of the fire from the roof of a nearby hotel, which show the flames coming out of the tower windows at 9.43pm, well before they would have had time to spread there from the foyer. “The fire which was started in the foyer,” writes Torzo in his dissenting report, “aimed to attract the attention of the fire brigade to that area of the theatre while the attic [invisible from street level] burnt on. This demonstrates that the arsonists wanted nothing less than the complete destruction of the theatre.”There was no shortage of kindling in either place: the attic was being used as a storeroom for old seats – well-stuffed with horsehair – while the foyer was full of materials left there by the restorers. These included tins of paint and plastic resins, planks of wood and eight litres of Solfilp, a highly flammable liquid, which may even have been spread around by the arsonists to give the flames a head start.In his classified report, Torzo even went so far as to map out the arsonists’ movements.
They strolled unobserved into the theatre at around 7.30pm, probably disguised as workmen, and hid in a cubbyhole next to the caretaker’s office, from where they could observe people leaving the building. The last few workers left at around 8.30; Signor Visentin, the caretaker, followed them 10 minutes later, having completed his routine tour of inspection (though the sender of an anonymous letter received by Sandro Onofri after his article was published claims that Visentin was not alone when he left the theatre; an unnamed set-designer had also stayed behind).The two men – who may later have been joined by a third who acted as lookout – then came out of their hiding-place, infiltrated the backstage area and climbed the metal steps that led to the attic room, through the stage-design workshop. They set fire to the seats, having first sprinkled them with a fuel that leaves no trace, and descended to the foyer of the gods, where they set fire to the planks and other materials used in the restoration work. By 9pm they had finished the job, and left the theatre through the same staff entrance they had come in by, closing the door behind them. The alarm was only raised 15 minutes later, when the fire had already taken a firm hold. Though much was made – in the immediate aftermath of the blaze – of the fact that the fire brigade’s work was hindered by the drained canals around the back of the theatre, the legal experts were unimpressed: this was such a professional job that the firemen could do very little by the time they arrived.Direct evidence linking the arsonists with organised-crime networks is difficult to come by, but sources close to Judge Casson say that he is planning to take the lid off a very large can of worms.
It is a fact that both the Sicilian and the Neapolitan branches of the Brotherhood have been intensifying their business interests in the Veneto recently, ever since local boss Felice Maniero decided to turn state’s evidence at the end of 1995, leaving the field open to his southern competitors.One of the reasons why investigators have been moving so slowly is that the five firms involved in the original restoration work had farmed out most of the work to sub-contractors, some of whom, in their turn, took on sub-sub-contractors. The order to torch La Fenice could have come from any point in the pyramid. Fourteen people have been under investigation for criminal negligence since February – including the Mayor of Venice, Massimo Cacciari, and the director of La Fenice, Gianfranco Pontel. But while some fairly stupid mistakes were made – such as the failure to provide a single night watchman at a time when the entire fire detection and prevention system was out of action – nobody really believes that these officials bear any direct responsibility. More interesting is the addition of six new names to the list of suspects in October. Their identity is a closely guarded secret, but we do know that they are facing a charge of arson.One other coincidence points to a Mafia connection.
There have been 15 theatre fires in Italy over the last 20 years, six of which were definitely caused by arson. Of these, the most destructive was the blaze which destroyed the Teatro Petruzzelli opera house in the southern city of Bari on the evening of 26 October 1991. The timing of the fire (just after closing time) was identical, as was the arsonists’ method: they lit fires at several points high up in the building, before fleeing. The only difference was that the two men were surprised by the rapid spread of the blaze, and ended up having to a hammer a door down to get out.