Late on the night before October 18, 2025, a powerful car bomb exploded outside the home of Sigfrido Ranucci, one of Italy’s most prominent investigative journalists, in the town of Pomezia, just south of Rome. The attack, which has been widely condemned by political leaders and journalist unions alike, is being investigated by Italy’s anti-mafia authorities, highlighting the persistent dangers faced by those who challenge organized crime and corruption in the country.
According to AFP and multiple news outlets, the explosion destroyed Ranucci’s car, damaged a second family vehicle, and shattered the front gate of his home. The blast was so forceful that it also damaged a neighboring house, leaving twisted metal and shattered windows strewn across the street. Miraculously, no one was injured. However, the incident could have ended in tragedy: Ranucci’s daughter had walked by the targeted car just 20 minutes before the explosion. "The force of the explosion was so strong that it could have killed anyone passing by at that moment," stated Report, the investigative program Ranucci anchors on RAI, Italy’s public broadcaster, in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Police, firefighters, and forensic crews descended on the scene in the aftermath, with magistrates from the Rome district’s anti-mafia police leading the investigation. Ranucci himself, who has been under police protection for years due to repeated mafia threats, filmed the mangled remains of his vehicles and the damaged gate. The images quickly went viral across social media, drawing public attention to the brazen nature of the attack.
Anti-mafia prosecutors have confirmed that at least one kilo of explosives was used in the bombing. The sheer scale of the device underlines the determination of those behind the attack. Ranucci told Corriere della Sera that this act was an “escalation” after two years of mounting threats, which he believes are tied to his investigative work. In recent months, he revealed, he has received various threats and even found two bullets outside his home. During a television programme in 2021, Ranucci recounted a chilling episode when a former prisoner told him that mobsters “had given the order to kill you, but the hit was stopped.”
The timing of the attack has not gone unnoticed. It occurred on the eighth anniversary of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese investigative journalist who was killed by a car bomb in 2017 after exposing corruption in Malta’s political and business circles. Like Caruana Galizia, Ranucci has been the subject of numerous defamation lawsuits—so-called SLAPP suits—intended to silence his reporting. Just this week, he was absolved in the latest case brought against him, according to the Associated Press.
Condemnation of the attack was swift and unequivocal. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni issued a statement on X, describing the bombing as a “serious act of intimidation.” She wrote, “The freedom and independence of information are non-negotiable values of our democracies, which we will continue to defend.” Justice Minister Carlo Nordio echoed this sentiment, declaring, “An attack on a journalist is an attack on the state.” Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi responded by ordering Ranucci’s security detail to be increased “to the maximum.”
Ranucci’s work with Report has long put him in the crosshairs of Italy’s criminal underworld. The program is one of the few investigative series on Italian television, regularly breaking stories involving politicians, business leaders, and public figures. Ranucci and his team have delved into the tangled web of relationships linking the Cosa Nostra, ‘Ndrangheta, and far-right crime groups, as well as high-profile mafia hits. According to Visegrád 24, Ranucci has been under police protection since at least 2014 due to the seriousness of the threats against him, though other sources suggest this protection began in 2021.
Standing outside the offices of RAI after the attack, Ranucci addressed the press directly. He described the bombing as a new level in the campaign of intimidation against him and his colleagues. Yet he remained defiant. “Whoever thinks they can condition the work of Report by doing something like this will get the opposite effect,” he said. “The only thing this does is maybe makes us waste some time.”
Italian journalist unions and a broad swath of politicians from across the spectrum have expressed solidarity with Ranucci and his family. The attack has reignited debate about the safety of journalists in Italy, a country with a long and troubled history of violence against reporters who investigate organized crime. The parallels with the murder of Caruana Galizia have not been lost on observers. Earlier this year, two men were sentenced to life in prison for complicity in her murder, while two others pleaded guilty in 2022 and received 40-year sentences.
The blast has also drawn international attention to the broader issue of press freedom in Europe. Investigative journalists continue to face legal harassment, threats, and violence for exposing corruption and criminal activity. In Italy, the legacy of mafia intimidation is deeply entrenched, but the attack on Ranucci demonstrates that the threat is far from historical—it remains an urgent, ongoing reality.
For Ranucci, the bombing is just the latest in a long line of attempts to silence his reporting. Yet, as he made clear in his public statements, neither he nor his team at Report intend to back down. "Freedom and independence of information are essential values of our democracies, which we will continue to defend," Meloni emphasized, a sentiment echoed by many in the Italian public and media.
As the anti-mafia investigation unfolds, and with Ranucci’s security now at its highest level, the attack has become a rallying point for defenders of press freedom in Italy and beyond. The message, for now, is clear: intimidation will not silence those who seek to expose the truth, no matter the risks involved.