Anger and outrage have erupted across Italy after the killing of a university student, allegedly at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, casting a spotlight on violence against women in a country where on average one woman is killed every three days.
The body of Giulia Cecchettin, 22, an engineering student, was found days before her graduation ceremony in a ditch near a lake north of Venice. She had been wrapped in plastic and reportedly stabbed multiple times.
The discovery came after a week-long search that had gripped the country. Prior to her disappearance, roadside cameras are said to have captured her former partner, Filippo Turetta, hitting her.
On Wednesday, a court in eastern Germany, where Turetta, 21, was arrested after his car broke down, said it had approved his extradition to Italy.
Turetta landed at Venice airport about mid-morning on Saturday and was due to be transferred to a prison in the northern city of Verona to face questions in the investigation, according to Italian media.
Fuelled by reports by Cecchettin’s friends and family of Turetta’s alleged refusal to accept Cecchettin’s decision to end the relationship, the case rattled many across the country.
Protesters on Saturday – also the International Day For the Elimination of Violence Against Women – are expected to turn out across Italy to mark Cecchettin’s killing, adding to the scores of rallies and vigils already held to honour her memory in recent days.
“This is a script that we know very well,” said Cristina Gamberi, a research fellow at the University of Bologna, pointing to the 106 women killed in Italy so far this year, the majority of them at the hands of their partners or former partners.
“But with Giulia something is different,” said Gamberi. “And in my reading, what is different is her sister Elena.”
Cecchettin’s older sister, Elena, has responded to sympathetic media portrayals of Turetta by accusing him instead of controlling and possessive behaviour. Turetta’s lawyer did not reply to a request for comment.
“She’s fighting back with a very strong determination and anger,” said Gamberi. “And I do think she’s giving voice to a new collective awareness that is really widespread among the younger generation.”
Through both social media and interviews, Elena Cecchettin has linked her sister’s killing to the normalisation of toxic male behaviour, characterising those who commit femicides as the “children” of patriarchy and rape culture.
She urged men to call out their friends and colleagues at the first signs of sexual violence, whether it’s catcalls or controlling behaviour of their partners. “No man is good if he does nothing to dismantle the society that privileges them so much,” she wrote this week in the newspaper Corriere della Sera.
She also appeared to push back against the government’s request for schools to hold a minute’s silence for her sister, calling instead for widespread sexual and emotional education and the financing of anti-violence centres.
“For Giulia don’t hold a moment of silence, for Giulia burn everything,” she wrote. “Femicide is a state murder because the state does not protect us. Femicide is not a crime of passion, it is a crime of power.”
A report, published in 2021 by the European Institute for Gender Equality and based on 2018 data, placed Italy ninth out of 15 EU countries for the number of murders of women by partners or former partners and 10th for femicides committed by relatives.
The discovery of Cecchettin’s body also prompted comment from the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, whose party was among those who abstained earlier this year as the EU voted to ratify a landmark international treaty aimed at preventing violence against women. “We all hoped in recent days that Giulia was alive. Unfortunately, our greatest fears have come true,” Meloni wrote on social media.
“Every single woman killed because she is ‘guilty’ of being free is an aberration that cannot be tolerated and that pushes me to continue on the path taken to stop this barbarity,” added Meloni, who last year became the country’s first female prime minister.
On Wednesday, Italian lawmakers unanimously backed a raft of measures aimed at expanding protections for women at risk. The minister of education, Giuseppe Valditara, also pledged a campaign in schools to address gender-based violence.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that women have to endure harassment, humiliation and violence every day,” Valditara told reporters.
Rather than involving feminist associations and anti-violence centres, the project is being coordinated by a psychologist who has previously negated the existence of gender-based violence, said Silvia Menecali, a member of D.i.Re, the Women Against Violence Network.
It’s “truly shocking,” she said. The appointment hinted at the broad overhaul needed to tackle the many facets of the issue in Italy; from the pervasive view among many in law enforcement and the judiciary that survivors of violence are somehow to blame or not to be believed, to the way in which media treats the perpetrators of this violence.
“In Italy we need to put an end to journalism that still emphasises the point of view of the murderer, explaining what motivated him to kill a woman,” said Menecali. “This kind of narrative carries on legitimising femicide as a reaction to a woman’s behaviour.”
• In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.
