On July 19, 1921, the first anti-fascist militia in history, the Arditi del Popolo, was formed in the port city of Piombino, in Tuscany, Italy. Faced with a growing fascist offensive, anarchist and communist workers armed themselves around the Arditi del Popolo and, for months, managed to take to the streets of cities and working-class neighborhoods and confront the squads of blackshirts.