Fear in Florence

To some, the 36-hour burst of street violence at last July's Group of Eight meeting in Genoa seemed likely to define the decade. The scenic Italian port city became a war zone as antiglobalization protesters clashed with police. More than 200 were injured, dozens arrested, and the police shot to death Carlo Giuliani, a 23-year-old Italian demonstrator. It was the worst antiglobalization violence since the makeshift movement's birth in Seattle in 1999, and it even led some cloistered world leaders to consider rethinking those lavish international summits.

Just seven weeks later, Sept. 11 made the Genoa G-8 meeting...