A young woman in Italy killed by her former partner sparked nation-wide outrage over the weekend, coinciding with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Giulia Cecchettin, 22, was allegedly murdered by her 22-year-old partner Filippo Turetta just days before she was due to receive her degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Padua.
On Saturday November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the nation grieved for Cecchettin, along with the other women killed by male-perpetrated violence.
Tens of thousands of people protested against gender-based violence, including male soccer players in Italy’s top soccer league.
Domestic violence and intimate partner violence is extremely prevalent in Italy, where one woman is killed every three days.
Cecchettin’s alleged murder has already provoked more people to call out the national, and global, epidemic of male-perpetrated violence and could potentially lead to further action.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Giulia Cechettin
University student Giulia Cecchettin went missing on November 11 after she met up with her boyfriend, Filippo Turetta, at a shopping mall near Venice. Cecchettin was shopping for her graduation outfit.
Her body was discovered a week later on November 18 in a ditch near a lake at the foothills of the Alps. She was wrapped in black plastic bags.
The following day, authorities issued an arrest warrant for Turetta, after CCTV footage emerged of him assaulting Cecchettin in a car park near her home in Vigonovo, a town close to Venice.
A manhunt for Turetta found the 22-year-old in Germany. Turetta was arrested and extradited to Italy.
He arrived in Venice on Saturday morning and is yet to be formally charged.
non-italians please read and retweet.
— zoe PINNED (@vaItcrsen) November 19, 2023
im writing this through tears and rage.
this is GIULIA CECCHETTIN.
the 105th victim of femicide in italy in the past 11 months.#giuliacecchettin
+ pic.twitter.com/DD8Hpr1PLL
According to the Italian Interior Ministry, Cecchettin was the 55th woman in 2023 killed by a partner or former partner. This year, with five weeks of the year left, there have been 106 femicides in Italy.
In honour of Cecchettin, her father unveiled a red bench at the University of Padua, where she was due to graduate with a degree in biomedical engineering before her life was taken from her.
“Nothing will bring Giulia back,” he said on Saturday while unveiling the bench, “but I want many good initiatives to come out of her death.”
Avui #25N, Dia Internacional per l’Eliminació de la Violència contra les Dones, us vull parlar del cas que ha sacsejat Itàlia les últimes setmanes.
— Mar Sifre Rigol 🏳️🌈 (@marsigol) November 25, 2023
Dissabte passat van trobar el cadàver de Giulia Cecchettin, una noia de 22 anys que feia una setmana que havia desaparegut. pic.twitter.com/hdE483vkwp
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is a United Nations (UN) day of acknowledgement for the global epidemic that kills women every day.
According to UN Women, more than five women or girls are killed every hour by someone in their family.
The day marks the first of the UN’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, a global campaign run from 25 November to 10 December. This year’s theme is “UNITE! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls”.
Filippo Turetta’s extradition back to Italy over the alleged murder of Giulia Cecchettin coincided with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, where tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Italy’s main cities in protests.
According to activist group Non Una Di Meno (Not one less), there were 500,000 people who turned up at rallies in Italy’s main cities, including Naples, Milan and the capital, Rome, where protestors gathered outside and “invaded” the Colosseum.
“They are killing us. Every single day,” activists from Non Una Di Meno wrote in an Instagram post.
“We screamed loudly until we lost our voices, we danced to let our rage out. We walked together, five hundred thousand.”
‘A poisonous weed’
Although the activist organisation accused the Italian government of falling behind in eliminating gender-based violence, several high-profile leaders in Italy released statements on Saturday.
Sergio Mattarella, president of Italy, said male-perpetrated violence cannot be countered by mere “intermittent indignation”.
“A human society that aspires to be civilised cannot accept, cannot endure, this string of attacks on women and murders,” Mattarella wrote in a statement.
Italy’s first female Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, posted on social media, standing with those who protested while also defending government initiatives tackling the epidemic.
“We are free, and no one can take that freedom away from us, no one can think that we are in their possession,” she wrote.
“On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, I want to tell Italian women that they are not alone.
“The laws are there, the institutions are there, united, to prevent and fight the abomination of violence against women, stalking, femicide.”
Pope Francis also posted on social media, reiterating his message on domestic violence, which he spoke out on weeks ago.
“Violence against women is a poisonous weed that plagues our society and must be pulled up from its roots,” he wrote on X.
“These roots grow in the soil of prejudice and of injustice; they must be countered with educational action that places the person, with his or her dignity, at the centre.”
‘A red card against violence’
Protests marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women were not limited to the streets of Italy.
On Saturday, players from the top men’s soccer league in the country took to the pitch with a red mark painted on their face.
The gesture was part of a campaign in solidarity with the protests, translating to “a red card against violence”.
Players including Ciro Immobile from Lazio and Theo Hernández from AC Milan played the match with a red mark painted on their cheek, calling for an end to gender-based violence.