Fugitive bomber who “disappeared without a trace” after bookstore attack in Italy is arrested in Spain, police say

An Italian anarchist convicted of a 2017 bombing in Florence and on the run for nearly two years has been arrested in Spain, police in Italy said Saturday.

Salvatore Vespertino, 38, a “militant anarchist,” was captured by police in Madrid early Saturday, police said in a statement, nearly two years after they say he “disappeared without a trace.” 

Vespertino had been on the run since July 2023 from an eight-year prison sentence, confirmed by Italy’s highest court, for having severely wounded a police bomb squad officer on December 31, 2017.

The officer had been dismantling an explosive device in front of a Florence bookstore linked to Casapound, an Italian neo-fascist fringe group.

DNA on the bomb traced it to Vespertino, police said.

Police in Italy said they investigated Vespertino’s links to other anarchists throughout Europe and contacted authorities in Spain, France, Switzerland and Greece.