Since the murder of a 22-year-old student almost two weeks ago, Italy has been debating how women can be better protected from relationship crimes. Prime Minister Meloni also speaks out. Why is the country reacting so violently now?
The case hits the middle of Italian society, the bourgeois milieu and the university environment. Giulia Cecchettin out of Vigonovo near Venice on November 11th by her ex-boyfriend and fellow student Filippo Turetta, 22, murdered. After dinner, an argument broke out in his Fiat Punto in a remote commercial area because the 22-year-old had broken up. As you can later see on video recordings, the two get out of the car, he beats them to the ground, ties them up, and takes them away in the car.
The journey through the night ends at a mountain lake Pordenone, where the 22-year-old is said to have stabbed his ex-girlfriend. A week later, the police found her lifeless body covered with plastic wrap near a ravine. The suspected perpetrator left for Germany that night and was later caught on the A9 near Naumburg in Saxony-Anhalt. He’s supposed to go there in a few days Italy be delivered.
Giulia was an aspiring biomedical engineer with her final exams at the University of Padua imminent. Filippo was in the same course, but less successful. Your sister Elena Cecchettin says he put pressure on Giulia not to take her exams so quickly. The idea that she would finish before him was unbearable for him, says Elena. “Those were the first alarm bells,” she believes. After their separation, Filippo pressured Giulia to come back to him.
Protesters gather in front of the University of Milan to march against violence against women. Since the murder of student Giulia Cecchettin, there has been an increasing number of spontaneous actions in schools and universities.
© Piero Cruciatti / AFP
The murder of the 22-year-old student shocked people like no other femicide in Italy before. There were demonstrations, sit-ins and occupations of school buildings in many cities. A young generation no longer wants to keep quiet. Protest marches and rallies are planned across the country for the “International Day Against Violence Against Women” this Saturday.Prime Minister Giulia Meloni also spoke up. “Every single woman who is killed because she is ‘guilty’ of being free is an anomaly that cannot be accepted,” said the head of government. According to a United Nations report released this week, the number of recorded femicides worldwide rose to the highest level in two decades in 2022. According to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior, there have been more than 100 femicides in Italy since the beginning of the year.
Professor Emeritus Chiara Saraceno from Turin is one of the most renowned sociologists in Italy with a focus on family and women. Saraceno is a journalist and author who was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2005. The star talked to her about the case Cecchettin.
Professor Saraceno, why solves the murder of Giulia Cecchettin such strong reactions?
The Italians identify with her. She is perceived as “one of us.” She is young and does not come from a marginalized background. This makes it clear once again that femicide occurs in all social classes, regardless of income and education.
The protest is louder than ever.
Yes, also because many people followed the outcry of Giulia’s sister Elena, who is two years older. “Let’s stop being silent, let’s scream and burn everything,” she shouted. Elena has turned her private pain into a political protest. This is very brave of her and has inspired many to join the demonstrations. What is interesting is that the younger generation of students in particular stood up and clearly articulated their protest. People no longer want to quietly commemorate a victim like a fallen soldier and her inevitable fate, but rather they want to denounce the grievances.
What exactly should change?
Something has to change culturally and in this specific case it would have required greater attention from those around Filippo, from parents, university lecturers or other people who would have noticed that something was wrong with him. Filippo had ambushed her after the breakup and harassed her several times. That was pretty sick. However, his father later downplayed his son’s behavior. The tendency is often to trivialize and not accept that one’s own son needs psychological help, as in this case. In addition, there is the male image according to which the boy should conquer the girl he likes. This then becomes an explosive mixture.
What is the status of emancipation in Italy?
The relationship between the sexes is far too often still very rigid and asymmetrical. Men who think it’s normal to slap their partner every now and then and think they’re allowed to monitor their cell phone. But also women who confuse this control with affection according to the motto: He controls me because he loves me so much. These role models are the breeding ground in which pathological behavior can flourish.
There have been protests against femicide in Italy before. But after that, things mostly continued as before.
Of course the protests are not enough, but they are a sign of change. At least there is an awareness that violence against women is not an isolated case. Now we have to work on the cultural breeding ground, which means that every man is responsible for his behavior insofar as he helps shape the private and public image of men – as a father, as a teacher, as a journalist or as an advertising agent who works with images. It is always said that mothers should raise their sons better. But we have to make men more responsible.
Femicides committed by partners or ex-partners have actually increased in Italy. There have been 53 cases so far in 2023. Do you see a trend there?
No, these are small fluctuations. The problem is that femicides are not decreasing, while the number of murders overall is decreasing. This means that killing as a solution to a conflict is generally declining, but not in the ratio between men and women. The issue of violence therefore largely affects gender relations.
After Giulia’s murder Cecchettin The Meloni government has announced that it will increase funding for violence prevention and introduce a law. The Education Minister wants to introduce rules of conduct in schools. What do you expect from it?
I hope that the women’s shelters will be better financed again after Meloni cut funding there. I doubt the effect of strict laws. The approach of going to schools is good at first. But in Italy we don’t even have sex education classes.There is no talk about sensitive interaction between boys and girls. We are a Catholic country, so there is a fear that students will be incited to have too much sex.
As a sociologist, you yourself have led training courses for police forces to raise awareness. What experiences did you have there?
This is a very good thing. We teach police officers how to recognize the dangers of violence against women and how to react when a woman reports that she has been beaten by her husband. In the past, people tried to calm women down and encourage them. Now many law enforcement officers see things differently. The eyes of those who are supposed to protect us must be trained to recognize the dangers.