ROME, Italy — Italy’s parliament has unanimously voted to make femicide a distinct crime punishable by life imprisonment, a landmark legal change driven by years of public outrage over gender-based killings. The Chamber of Deputies approved the bill with 237 votes in favor and none against on Tuesday, which coincided with the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The law, backed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s conservative government and the center-left opposition, introduces "femicide" into Italy’s penal code to classify the murder of a woman motivated by gender hatred, discrimination, or a desire for domination.

The vote represents a significant political and cultural shift for Italy, which ranks 85th on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index—the lowest in the European Union. The new statute mandates a life sentence for acts intended to cause death "out of discrimination, hatred or violence" against a woman. It also includes stronger measures against related gender-based crimes like stalking and revenge porn.

A Nation Mobilized by Tragedy

The legislative push gained irreversible momentum from the brutal murder of 22-year-old university student Giulia Cecchettin in November 2023. Cecchettin was stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend, Filippo Turetta, in a premeditated attack after she ended their relationship. The killing and the search for Cecchettin captivated the nation, but it was the powerful response of her family that transformed private grief into a public mandate for change.

Her sister, Elena Cecchettin, argued that the murderer was "not a monster" but the "healthy son" of a deeply patriarchal society, a statement that resonated across Italy. Their father, Gino Cecchettin, channeled his loss into advocacy, founding a foundation in his daughter’s name focused on prevention through education. "Before, many people especially from the centre and extreme right didn't want to hear the word femicide," Gino Cecchettin told the BBC. "Now this is a world where we can speak about it. That's a little step, but it's a step".

The Law's Scope and Italy's Femicide Landscape

The law defines femicide as a homicide that is "an act of hatred, discrimination, domination, control, or subjugation of a woman as a woman," or that occurs when she breaks off a relationship or to "limit her individual freedoms". This formal recognition aims to ensure such killings are "recorded, studied, and understood in their real context," said Judge Paola Di Nicola, who helped draft the legislation.

Official data underscores the crisis. Italy’s national statistics agency (Istat) recorded 106 femicides in 2024, accounting for 91.4% of the 116 women murdered last year. Of those, 62 were killed by a current or former intimate partner. The figures reveal a grim consistency: forensic studies show femicide rates have remained alarmingly stable for over 70 years, even as Italy’s overall homicide rate has plummeted. Today, women comprise 34% of all homicide victims, up from 24% in 2007.

A Unanimous Vote Amidst Political Division

The unanimous approval was a rare moment of political unity in Rome’s fractious parliament. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s first female premier, hailed the vote as a sign of "political cohesion against the barbaric nature of violence against women". She highlighted her government’s efforts to double funding for anti-violence centers and shelters and promote a national emergency hotline.

However, the consensus was tactical and fleeting. The center-left opposition, while supporting the bill, immediately criticized the government for focusing solely on punishment while neglecting deeper socioeconomic and cultural drivers. Elly Schlein, leader of the Democratic Party, argued that "repression is not enough without prevention, which can only start in schools". The show of unity dissolved the same day when the opposition withdrew support from a separate, parallel bill that sought to redefine rape in Italian law based on a lack of explicit consent.

Critics Warn of a "Wrong Approach"

Women’s rights advocates and legal experts warn that the new law, while symbolically important, may be flawed in practice and could detract from more effective prevention. Elena Biaggioni, a lawyer and former vice president of Women Networking Against Violence, supports recognizing femicide but fears the legislation "may end up harming the very women it seeks to protect" by focusing solely on criminalization after a woman is killed.

"The government just wants to persuade people it's doing something for the problem," said law professor Valeria Torre of the University of Foggia. She contends the definition is too vague for consistent judicial application and that the real need is greater economic investment to tackle inequality. Critics point to a contentious government proposal that would ban sexual and emotional education for elementary students and require parental consent for such lessons in high school—a measure opposition parties have called "medieval".

A Historic Shift in Legal Culture

Despite the criticism, the law marks a profound departure for a country whose legal system was long shaped by patriarchal norms. Until 1981, Italy’s penal code provided drastically reduced sentences—sometimes as little as three years—for so-called "honor killings," where men murdered female relatives for perceived sexual transgressions. The concept lingered in court practice for decades, with the Supreme Court only ruling in 2007 that "honor" had no place as a mitigating factor.

By creating a standalone crime, Italy joins Cyprus, Malta, and Croatia as the only EU members with specific femicide laws. Most other major European states, including France, Spain and the United Kingdom, address such killings through aggravated homicide provisions. The life sentence penalty is among the harshest globally, on par with the upper limits in some Latin American nations that pioneered such laws.

The law’s ultimate test will be in its application. As Judge Di Nicola stated, its first major effect is to force a national conversation. "It shows that Italy is finally speaking about violence against women having deep roots," she said. For victims' families like the Cecchettins, the hope is that this conversation in courtrooms, classrooms, and living rooms will break a cycle of violence that legislation alone cannot end.