The Lower House has unanimously approved a bill that tightens the legal definition of rape, confirming that any sexual act without explicit consent is a felony. All 227 MPs present voted in favour on Wednesday, sending the bill to the Senate for further examination.
The new definition of rape measure is the result of cooperation between Premier Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI) and Elly Schlein’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD). It marks a rare moment of unity between government and opposition.
Schlein welcomed the vote, calling it a “small but significant cultural revolution”. She wrote on social media: “A great emotion today with the unanimous vote on our proposal on consent, a small great cultural revolution. At last, the principle of free and present consent enters Italian law. At last, it is clear that every sexual act without consent is violence, it is rape. Italian society does not accept non-consensual sexual acts.”
She stressed that consent cannot be assumed from silence or a lack of resistance. “It is vital to establish that the absence of explicit dissent, perhaps because the victim did not scream or try to escape, is not enough to infer consent.”
Schlein added that the work was cross-party from the start. She said she contacted Meloni to reach an agreement because, in the fight against gender violence, political divides must be put aside. She praised the joint effort by MPs Michela Di Biase and Carolina Varchi, along with Laura Boldrini, and thanked associations and experts who contributed during hearings.
The bill echoes the Istanbul Convention and brings Italy closer to other European states with consent-based rape laws. If approved by the Senate, the reform will confirm in statute that only “yes” means “yes”.
This bill follows on from the new law recognising femicide as a distinct crime.
