In Italy, the 1970s were characterized by extended strikes and protests that spread from large factories to the service sector (transportation, healthcare, public administration). Contrary to the widespread view that these labor protests were the antechamber of terrorism—a view expressed, for example, in the entry for “hot autumn” (autunno caldo) on the Italian Wikipedia website—, the article shows that they in fact represented a lengthy process of emancipation on the part of the workers. Italian workers demonstrated political maturity and were able to free themselves of working conditions that were unworthy of a civilized country.