Lola Dunton-Milenkovic
Warning: this article includes references to violence, kidnapping, rape, sexual assault, sexism, misogyny, death, and murder.
On 25 November 2025, politicians in the Italian parliament’s Chamber of Deputies unanimously voted to introduce the crime of femicide – the murder of a woman, specifically motivated by gender – as a distinct law punishable with a life sentence.
The bill was symbolically approved on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and such legislation highlights an ongoing, tragic phenomenon in Italian society: the horrifically frequent murder of women.
Statistically speaking, 84 femicides were committed in Italy in 2025 alone. This is a slight decrease from the 99 femicides of 2024, and the 107 femicides of 2023.
In other words, a woman is killed on average every three days in Italy. In roughly 50% of cases, the perpetrator is their husband or partner.
Femicide in Italy is thus a constant phenomenon, and this article will discuss its roots, as well as the significance and limitations of such new legislation – notably that it was supposed to be passed alongside another law that has been stalled, which sought to define sex without consent as rape.
The Roots of Misogyny in Italy
The murder of women in Italy is worryingly common and persistent. It represents a cultural phenomenon with deep roots, given that Italy’s legacies of the Roman Empire, Italian Fascism and Roman Catholicism still loom, lingering in a modern society where male violence is normalised.
The misogynistic origin story of the city-state of Rome has contributed to the patriarchal folklore and culture that permeates Italian society today. The foundation myth claims that when Romulus found his newly born city deprived of women, he trapped unmarried girls and women from the neighbouring Sabine people and kept them as Roman concubines. By the time the Sabine families sought revenge, many of their captured daughters and sisters were carrying or had given birth to Romans. The story claims that the women ran onto the battlefield as shields to secure peace between their people and their Roman captors.
Roman women were, moreover, treated as second-rate citizens. At gladiator fights, they were only permitted to sit in the worst seats next to the slaves. Disobedience resulted in physical punishment, with instances of women being kicked to death, drowned, or thrown from windows. Even women of a higher social status were not safe: Emperor Nero ordered the murders of his first wife and mother, and his second wife was kicked to death while pregnant. Furthermore, the Vestal Virgins, holy Roman priestesses, were buried alive if they violated their vow of chastity. Noble women were even subject to “the right to kiss”, allowing male relatives to test women and make sure they had not drunk wine. Resistance was punishable by death.
Historically, fascism too was steeped in male violence. Introduced in Italy by Benito Mussolini in the 1930s, it held procreation as a woman’s main duty and made women fully subordinate to men. Nearly 100 years later, fascism’s legacy is still alive, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni having praised Mussolini in her youth, and her own right-wing political party Fratelli d’Italia having descended from the Italian Social Movement party that was founded by former fascists. The fascist leader therefore remains in the political consciousness, alongside the toxic “maschilismo” associated with fascism which new generations use as a rationale to legitimise anti-woman violence.
Finally, the legacy of Catholic history has helped normalise the patriarchy in Italy. The religion is at the core of the “Madonna-whore complex”, where women can either be viewed as chaste and virtuous, or promiscuous and immoral. Stereotypes around this dichotomy have often served to justify violence against women. One such example is from 1611, when Roman baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi was raped at the age of 17 by her painter-mentor Agostino Tassi. She testified in court, was physically tortured during the trial, was treated as a promiscuous seductress, and proceeded to be shunned, shamed, and erased from public memory. Tassi, on the other hand, was protected by the Pope and set free.
The roots of such misogyny were visible even in the country’s penal code which, until 1981, mandated extreme leniency to those implicated in the killing of “spouses, daughters and sisters caught in illicit sex”.
Giulia Cecchettin
Misogyny and the murder of women was a regular occurrence, but what truly raised awareness and shocked Italy into action was the murder of a young woman in 2023. It caused such an outrage that the Institute of the Italian Encyclopedia Treccani chose “femicide” as 2023’s word of the year.
On 11 November 2023, just days before 22-year-old Giulia Cecchettin was due to get her biomedical engineering degree from the University of Padua, she went to buy her graduation outfit with her ex-boyfriend, Filippo Turetta.
Then, the couple disappeared.
Days later, CCTV footage emerged that showed the final moments of Giulia’s life: Turetta beating her in a car park close to her house in Vigonovo, near Venice. She tried to escape, but he put duct tape on her mouth, forced her into his car, drove to an industrial area, and attacked her again. Following a week-long search, her body was found at the bottom of a ditch, wrapped in black plastic bags. It bore signs of a brutal murder, as her head and neck were covered in at least 20 deep stab wounds.
It subsequently emerged that she was stabbed to death because she refused to get back together with Turetta.
Giulia’s killing sparked an unprecedented outpouring of grief and anger in Italy, with women appalled by how entrenched patriarchal attitudes have become. Protests and vigils took place across the country, and anti-violence and stalking hotline calls more than doubled over the course of two days.
The lasting legacy of the killing, however, stems from the response of Giulia’s sister, Elena Cecchettin. Her poignant words continue to resonate: “Filippo is often described as a monster, but he’s not a monster. A monster is an exception, a person who’s outside society, a person for whom society doesn’t need to take responsibility. Monsters are healthy sons of the patriarchy and rape culture”.
Elena opened up an important discourse: the inherent misogyny and gender inequality that permeates Italian society. It is a culture where men feel entitled to show their authority because, as Elena wrote, “femicide is not a crime of passion, it is a crime of power”.
The New Law on Femicide
Two years since the death of Giulia Cecchettin, MPs have voted for a law on femicide, making Italy one of very few places to categorise femicide as a distinct crime. The only other EU member states that have a legal definition of femicide in their criminal codes are Cyprus, Malta, and Croatia.
The new Article 577-bis of the Criminal Code henceforth establishes that “anyone who causes the death of a woman when the act is committed as an act of hatred or discrimination […] or as an act of control or possession or domination because she is a woman, or in relation to the woman’s refusal to establish or maintain an emotional relationship, or as an act of limitation on her individual freedoms, is punishable by life imprisonment”.
From now on, every murder of a woman that is motivated by her gender will be recorded. As Judge Paola di Nicola, one of the authors of the new law, said: “Femicides will be classified, they will be studied in their real context, they will exist.”
Judge di Nicola served on an expert commission that examined 211 recent murders of women for common characteristics prior to drafting the law, and argued that, “talking of such crimes as rooted in exasperated love or strong jealousy is a distortion – that uses romantic, culturally acceptable terms”. She further added that Italy will be “the first in Europe to reveal the real motivation of the perpetrators, which is hierarchy and power.”
Giulia’s father, Gino Cecchettin, believes the significance of the law is that it has created the space for conversation and education: “Now this is a world where we can speak about it. That’s a little step, but it’s a step.” Following his daughter’s murder, her father created a foundation in her name, seeking to prevent the suffering he and his family experienced. He sought to understand the mindset of her murderer, stating: “[Filippo] was a student, a beloved son. Like a normal guy.” Behind that facade, Gino uncovered a society full of stereotypes about women and notions of male superiority, as well as young men struggling to manage their emotions. Gino now tours Italian schools and universities, talking about Giulia and about respect, seeking to give young people the tools to handle life not as Turetta did but in a different manner, with hopes that “they will not stick to the model of the Superman, or the Macho Man”.
However, ratifying said legislation has not been easy. Far-right MPs have resisted all calls for mandatory courses on emotional and sexual education, only permitting optional sex education classes for older children. The law, too, has critics. Law professor Valeria Torre believes the definition of femicide is too vague and will prove difficult for judges to implement. She further asserts that the law serves only as a means the government can use to persuade people that it is tackling the problem, when what is needed “is more economic effort […] to overcome the problems of inequality in Italy”.
Even those who approve the legislation agree that it must come with broader measures against gender inequality. Italy ranks 85th in the Global Gender Gap Index (which measures how countries are closing gender disparities), nearly the lowest of all EU states, with sadly just over half of all women in employment.
The law was, nonetheless, approved by all 237 deputies in parliament and greeted with a burst of applause, portraying how, despite political differences, the country is united in fighting against female violence. It may also represent a step towards equality and eliminating misogyny. As Judge di Nicola says, “it shows that Italy is finally speaking about violence against women having deep roots. The first effect is to make the country discuss something it’s never confronted before”.
And Yet…
In spite of the positive change the law heralds, it was supposed to be passed alongside another landmark law which sought to define sex without consent as rape, stipulating that anyone engaging in sexual acts without the other person’s explicit consent can face a prison term of 6 to 12 years.
Presently, sexual violence in Italy is defined as forcing someone to undergo sexual acts through threats, physical force, or abuse of authority. The criminal code does not explicitly recognise the absence of consent as sufficient grounds for bringing a charge.
This second law was stalled by the Lega, the far-right coalition ally led by Deputy-Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who argued that the law would “clog up the courts” and be used as a form of revenge. He backs the law in principle, but claims the current draft “leaves too much open to the individual’s interpretation”.
This setback shows that misogyny is, after all, rooted in Italian culture. The present government, despite passing one piece of landmark legislation, does not seem to grasp the issue entirely. This is also evident with Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara asserting that the patriarchy no longer exists, and linking the rise in sexual violence towards women with irregular immigration, a point Meloni agreed with.
What Italy needs is a change in values to prevent future crimes of power. As Elena Cecchettin said when interviewed outside her family home where floral tributes were laid out: “Don’t hold a minute of silence for Giulia – burn everything. We need a cultural revolution to ensure that Giulia’s case is the last”.
If you have been affected by any of the issues mentioned in this article, please seek help.
If you or someone you know is in immediate danger or in need of urgent protection, call the police on 999.
If you require urgent mental health support, call the NHS at 111.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse and need immediate help, call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline at 0808 2000 247.
If you need to talk to someone, call the Samaritans at 116 123.