Around 30% of Italians aged 14 to 21 believe jealousy is a sign of love, according to a report released on Friday.
The survey, Young Voices for Free Relationships, conducted by Differenza Donna, found that 37% of respondents had experienced violence, with 87% of incidents committed by people they knew.
Non-binary individuals (55%) and girls (43%)reported the highest rates of violence. The perpetrators were family members (30%), friends (29.5%), and partners or ex-partners (27.2%). Despite these figures, only 1% of victims sought help from Anti-Violence Centres, and 25% did not confide in anyone.
The issue of gender-based violence remains a pressing concern in Italy, underscored by the murder of 22-year-old Giulia Cecchettin in November 2023. Her former boyfriend, Filippo Turetta, confessed to the killing, admitting that jealousy was his motive. Prosecutors revealed that Turetta stabbed Cecchettin 75 times in Fossò, near Venice, just days before she was due to graduate from Padua University in biomedical engineering.
The case shocked the nation, not only due to the brutality of the act but also the young age of both the victim and the perpetrator.
This week, the Cecchettin family launched an anti-femicide foundation in her memory.
80% of sexual assault cases in Italy carried out by Italians
The Giulia Cecchettin Foundation ceremony, held in the Lower House, sparked controversy when Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara reportedly suggested a link between rising sexual violence and illegal immigration, a statement he denied on Wednesday.
“I never said femicides are the fault of immigrants.
“I said something different, which our country is experiencing a rising phenomenon of sexual violence, which are another very sad phenomenon”, noted the minister.
“The figures are unfortunately unmistakable and I am sorry that someone altered them or failed to recognise them.
“And what did I say? I said marginalisation and deviance due to irregular immigration also, and the also is important, contribute to sexual violence”, noted the minister.
On Monday, the education minister said a rise in rapes and sexual violence in Italy was linked to irregular migration. “We must not pretend not to see that the increase in sexual violence is also linked to forms of marginalisation and deviance that in some way derive from illegal immigration”, the minister said in a video message broadcast during the presentation of the Giulia Cecchettin Foundation at the Lower House.
Official figures show that Italians commit nearly 80% of the rape and sexual assault cases in Italy. Foreigners account for the remaining 20%.
