Fabrizio Quattrocchi, a 36-year-old former baker in the family business, had taken a security job in Iraq, (where salaries are inflated), to earn enough money to get married, and was taken as a hostage, along with three other Italians.

The Iraqi insurgents had threatened to execute the Italians one at a time, until Italy withdrew its troops from Iraq.

As the first appointed victim, and with a gun pointed at his head, and knowing he was about to be executed,

Quattrocchi attempted to remove the hood placed over his head, and declared:
"Now I will show you how an Italian dies."

Still showing defiance and bravado, he stoically awaited the shot to the back of his head, then toppled into his designated grave.

Such a contrast to the TV images shown of other "petrified" hostages/prisoners.
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ITALY GRIEVES FOR HOSTAGE WHO 'DIED A HERO' IN IRAQ
Los Angeles Times
By Nancy Meiman
Special to The Times
April 16, 2004

ROME — His face peered out from the front pages of Italy's major newspapers Thursday, under headlines that only barely captured the public's outrage: Murder! Horror in Iraq! Hostage Slaughtered!

Fabrizio Quattrocchi, a 36-year-old former baker, had taken a security job in Iraq to earn enough money to get married. On Wednesday, he was executed by Iraqi militants who took him hostage along with three other Italian men.

A videotape of the slaying was delivered to the Al Jazeera satellite television channel, which rarely shies away from airing graphic footage but judged this excerpt too grisly for viewers. Of the dozens of foreign nationals who have been kidnapped in recent days, Quattrocchi became the first whose killing has been publicized.

The death immediately put new pressure on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose decision to support Washington's war in Iraq is widely unpopular in Italy. But politicians were closing ranks Thursday, at least for the time being, and the government reiterated its determination to keep about 3,000 Italian troops in Iraq.

"They have destroyed a life," Berlusconi said of the kidnappers. "They have not cracked our values and our efforts for peace."

Across the country, horrified Italians struggled to come to terms with the news. Radio stations preempted their regular programming to discuss what one commentator called a barbarous act. Quattrocchi's hometown of Genoa was in mourning.

Quattrocchi was reportedly made to face a crude grave and then shot in the neck.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, who confirmed the killing after an Italian diplomat in Qatar viewed the videotape, said Quattrocchi "died a hero," defiant to the end. The minister said that Quattrocchi, with a gun pointed at his head, attempted to remove his hood and declared: "Now I will show you how an Italian dies."

The kidnappers are reportedly threatening to kill the other Italian hostages unless Italy withdraws its troops and Berlusconi apologizes for insulting Islam. The prime minister was widely criticized in 2001 when he was quoted as saying that Western civilization was superior to the Islamic world.

The Italian government has said it will not "deal with terrorists" but has asked Iran to help negotiate the men's release. The men were working for a U.S. security firm as guards.

A senior Italian official rushed to the region after Wednesday's killing.

"The government will do everything possible to gain the release of the Italians, but with one proviso: We cannot give in to blackmail," Frattini told a parliamentary committee, before which he was summoned for the second time in as many weeks to report on the spiraling violence.

Politicians were giving the government support, but the slain man's family demanded an end to the war. They were especially angry that Frattini confirmed the hostage's death while speaking live on a TV talk show.

"It seems as if the government wanted to demonstrate its strength by playing with the lives of people in Iraq," the family said in a statement, according to the ANSA news service.

Quattrocchi had gone to Iraq to earn money so he could marry his fiancee, buy a house and start a family, relatives said. He had joined the family baking business but had to quit because he was allergic to flour.

"He was supposed to come back to me," the fiancee, who gave her name only as Alice, told reporters. "We were supposed to get married. The only consolation is to know he died a hero."

Italy Grieves for Hostage Who 'Died a Hero' in Iraq
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/
la-fg-grief16apr16,1,6417116.story?coll=la-headlines-world

===============================================
Italy Hails 'Hero' Hostage, Stands Firm on Troops

New York Times
By Reuters
April 15, 2004

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian hostage killed in Iraq was hailed Thursday as a hero who in his last moments told his kidnappers defiantly: ``I'm going to show you how an Italian dies.''

Fabrizio Quattrocchi, one of four Italian security guards abducted earlier this week, was shot to death Wednesday after Italy refused to bow to the kidnappers' demands that it withdraw its troops from Iraq.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said a video recording of the killing showed that Quattrocchi was hooded when his kidnappers put a gun to his head.``When the murderers were pointing a pistol at him, this man tried to take off his hood and shouted: 'Now I'm going to show you how an Italian dies'. And they killed him,''

Frattini said.``He died a hero,'' he added.Frattini came under attack from some quarters for breaking the news of Quattrocchi's death during a live television chat show Wednesday night and the distraught families of the remaining three hostages urged talks with the abductors.

After meeting his top ministers to discuss the crisis, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi issued a statement saying the government ``would work in all practicable ways for the immediate and unconditional release'' of the remaining hostages.

Defense Minister Antonio Martino said Italy would keep its forces in Iraq. ``It wouldn't just be vile, it would also damage us if we pulled out with the job half done. We cannot give in,'' he told reporters.

Mainstream opposition leaders, many of them deeply critical of Berlusconi's unwavering support for President Bush during the Iraq conflict, also ruled out negotiations...`

The kidnap crisis is another blow to Italy, which lost 19 soldiers in a car bomb attack in November in Nassiriya, the southern Iraqi town where its 2,700 troops are stationed....'

'A blurry image of Quattrocchi taken shortly before his death stared out from the front pages Thursday as Italy faced up to its first full-blown hostage saga in recent memory.Rome's traditional pro-Arab stance shielded Italians from past bouts of Middle East violence. Berlusconi has changed the diplomatic equation by proving a firm ally of Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon...

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