Attempted Assassination of Italian Communist Leader - Covered with a blanket Signor Palmiro Togliatti, the Italian Communist Party leader is placed into an ambulance and rushed to hospital where a transfusion operation was performed following his injuries after an attempt was made in his life by a Sicilian student Antonio Palante, a 25-year-old law student, who fired four revolver shots at point-blank range at Togliatti as he was leaving the Chamber of Deputies. Togliatti was hit three times, and fell to the ground unconscious and bleeding. His condition is stated to be grave, but slightly improved after the attempt on hus life. July 15, 1948.