Scalzone was born in
Terni,
Umbria. In 1968, he came to know
Franco Piperno, and on 1 March 1968 he took part in the clashes against Italian police at
Valle Giulia. A few days later, his
vertebral column was seriously injured by a
desk thrown from a window by
neo-fascist students, mostly belonging to the
Italian Social Movement, that were occupying the faculty of Law of the
Sapienza University of Rome. With Piperno and
Toni Negri, Scalzone founded Potere Operaio in 1969. On 7 April 1979, he was arrested, along with Negri, Piperno, and others members of the autonomist movement, and accused of planning armed attacks and plotting to overthrow the government. where he remained protected from extradition thanks to the
Mitterrand doctrine. Scalzone revealed that his escape was helped by actor and friend
Gian Maria Volonté. In 1983, he was sentenced to 16 years' jail, reduced to nine in 1989. In 1998, scalzone briefly and secretly came back to Italy passing through
Corsica; a photographic service by the newsmagazine ''
L'Espresso'' later revealed the episode. He announced he had come back to Italy to "fight, under new conditions, an old battle". ==See also==