- Italian Criminal Code, as amended by Law No. 69/2019 on the safeguard of the victims of domestic and gender violence.
Italian codes - such as the Criminal Code - are the most important collection of laws regulating a certain area, such as - in the instant case - the criminal area, but they are not the only source of law in criminal matter.
- Law No. 77/2013, which implemented the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.
- Law No. 172/2012, which implemented the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse.
- Legislative Decree No. 212/2015, which implemented Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime.
- Legislative Decree is a primary source of law which has the same legal value as Law and the Italian Criminal Code.
Case law does not have binding effects in Italy, so there is no controlling case law.
Having said that, the Italian Supreme Court has issued a number of judgments against domestic violence. In Italy these judgments have no impact beyond the specific cases they relate to.
However, if more courts have decided a consistent line of cases in the same way, then the previous judgments are deemed to be highly persuasive (although not binding).The criminal courts are entitled to address domestic violence.
Domestic violence triggers a number of different crimes under the Italian Criminal Code. Accordingly, an individual who is victim of domestic violence may report an accusation of crime before the judicial police or with the public prosecutor's office against the perpetrator, triggering the start of the investigations.
The victim may also request the public prosecutor to issue a restraining order or other urgent interim measures against the perpetrator pending the investigations. The restraining order will be issued if there are solid grounds (i.e., serious evidence of guilt) supporting the accusation of crime and if not issuing it could harm the victim.
In the course of the criminal trial (or in separate civil court proceedings), the victim may also ask for the recovery of the damages suffered because of the violence.