It is with sadness that we announce the passing of Gianfranco Sanguinetti, which occured on October 3. He was 77 years old. The news were shared on his website, with the following press release (translation into English is mine):
Gianfranco Sanguinetti, a writer and major figure of the Situationist International, who denounced state terrorism, the crisis of capitalism, and the emergence of “Western despotism” from the 1970s onward, died in Prague on October 3, 2025, at the age of seventy-seven.
He was born in Pully, Switzerland, on July 16, 1948, to Teresa Mattei, a member of the French Resistance and politician, and Bruno Sanguinetti, a member of the French Resistance and industrialist.
From his youth, he was active in the avant-garde and rebel movements that, from the mid-1960s onward, shook Europe and the world at large. A member of the Situationist International, he founded its Italian section in 1969. Three years later, with Guy Debord, he affirmed the need to move beyond this period by co-signing the dissolution of the organization (The True Split in the International).
A connoisseur of the letters and thought of the Ancients, he used them as a powerful tool for interpreting contemporary reality with a sharp and relentless critique, lifting the veil that concealed the truth of things and highlighting the subversions carried out by the established powers.
In 1975, under the pseudonym Censor, he wrote and published the Rapporto veridico sulle ultime possibilità di salvare il capitalismo in Italia. It was a resounding hoax that kept politicians, authorities, security services, and the press busy for months, all of whom were committed to discovering the identity of the author of this cynical and merciless political-economic diagnosis, hailed as the work of a great right-wing operative.
He later revealed his identity in Proofs of the Inexistence of Censor Stated by its Author (1976), explaining the subversive intentions of this Report, revealing unspeakable truths.
He continued his work of demystification with On Terrorism and the State (1979), in which he was the first to expose the use of “false flag” terrorism by states—first and foremost the Italian state at the time—and their apparatuses.
He was responsible for the publication of Leopardi’s work in France.
During the years of his voluntary “exile” in Prague, Gianfranco Sanguinetti, while enriching his vast personal library, amassed a significant collection of erotic art. He also continued to write and publish on art, thought, and international political dynamics, always keeping a keen eye on what dominant propaganda strives to conceal, and denouncing the orchestration of appearances as well as the forms of contemporary authoritarianism, which he called “Western despotism.”
His archives are housed at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. A dedicated website https://www.gianfrancosanguinetti.com/ offers a complete biography and photos.
From some of our posts on about Sanguinetti and his work, see:
- Internazionale Situazionista (1969)
- Internazionale Situazionista – Corrispondenza con un’editore [1972]
- Debat d’orientation de l’ex-Internationale Situationniste [1974]
- Rapporto Veridico Sulle Ultime Opportunia di Salvare il Capitalismo en Italia [1975]; Prove Dell’Inesistenza di Censor [1976]
- Le Secret c’est de tout dire! [1989]
Situationniste Blog 