Yes.^[20] These orders can be granted to a partner (either married or not) who suffers severe prejudice to her/his physical or moral integrity or liberty because of the other partner's behavior.

Through these orders, the court must order the abuser: (i) to suspend the harmful behavior; and (ii) to move out of the family home.

Furthermore, if needed, the court may also order:

1. the abuser to stay away from those places frequented by the victim (i.e., workplace, parent's house, children's school, etc.)
2. the involvement of social services or organizations that support women and children that have been victims of domestic violence
3. the abuser to pay a regular amount to the victim who has been left without means of survival. The court can order such amount to be paid directly by the abuser's employer.

Civil protection orders may be petitioned by the abuser's partner (either married or not) and by all other people who are part of the family. Case law has construed the above-mentioned provisions in an extensive way allowing all those within the family or those living with the abuser who have been subject to domestic violence to petition civil protection orders. Legal assistance is not mandatory to petition civil protection orders.

Civil protection orders can also concern children and be issued to protect and support children when there is a situation of domestic violence. However, there are also specific orders for child protection.^[21]

When one of the parents breaches their obligations toward their children or abuses their power causing great damage to their children, the court may provide for the parent to lose their parental responsibility and consequently order that parent to stay away from the child.

In other less severe cases, the court may issue various types of orders concerning the custody of the child, such as distancing the child from the parent or ordering the parent to stay away from the child.

Please see section 4.1.3 above.

The duration of an order is decided by the court itself but cannot last longer than one year. However, such term may be postponed if severe circumstances occur and is strictly necessary.

Statistics concerning domestic violence are majorly concentrated on criminal proceedings and therefore not on civil protection orders and can be found at the following website https://www.istat.it/it/violenza-sulle-donne/il-fenomeno.

A petition must be filed with the court of the place of residence of the petitioner. The judge may then request further documentation or evidence aimed at acquiring information including the income situation and standard of living, as well as personal and common properties of the parties.

This is not mandatory provided the party's counsel attends the hearing.

Yes. Please see sections 4.1 and 4.4. 

Due to the nature of the remedies that can be sought, there must be current prejudice in order for the civil protection order to be effective. Otherwise, the victim would be able to seek damages by way of ordinary proceedings subject to statutory time limits.

In emergency cases, the judge will proceed on the basis of perfunctory information and may issue the civil protection order immediately by setting the parties' hearing within a maximum delay of 15 days and allowing a maximum delay of 8 days to the petitioner for the notification to the other side. At the hearing, the judge will either confirm, modify or revoke the CPO.

The judge must hear the parties involved and according to the judge's discretion, may request all the evidence they deem appropriate.^[22] They can appoint the fiscal authority to investigate the revenues of the family, the family life and the property of the family.

No, there are no age limits to obtain orders.

Yes, victims may obtain the payment of compensation, restitution, wages and/or profits lost ("Damages") as a consequence of a judgment that finds the perpetrator guilty of domestic violence acts. The Damages generally include any reintegration necessary to reinstate the situation prior to the criminal action. This means that victims may ask for both monetary damages (i.e., for any reduction of the victim's assets), assessed evaluating the resulting damage and any loss of profits, and nonmonetary damages (e.g., biological damage, moral damage or damage to a constitutionally protected interest).^[23]

In order to obtain Damages, victims have two possibilities:

1. autonomous civil action

Victims may initiate an autonomous civil proceeding requesting the Damages derived from the domestic violence acts.

2. joint civil action

Victims may join a civil claim to the ongoing criminal proceedings (so-called costituzione di parte civile) where they directly request the assessment of Damages.

With specific regard to the above, it is important to note, however, that the autonomous civil action and the joint civil action in criminal proceedings may not be initiated simultaneously. The relationship between the two types of civil actions are tightly regulated by Italian laws with the aim of avoiding a double decision on the same matters. The general rule is that initiating one type of civil action excludes the possibility to proceed with the other.^[24]

Victims, on top of the Damages (as outlined above), may also obtain the payment of costs related to the judgment. Following the principle of loss (criterio della soccombenza), the victory in any criminal law dispute also awards the payment of fees and expenses related to the judgment as paid by the victorious part, and they are consequently borne by the losing counterpart. These include the costs incurred by the winning party in the proceedings before the judicial authorities and typically include lawyers' fees and out-of-pocket expenses, such as the unified fee (so-called contributo unificato) and stamps for requesting certified copies.^[25]

With regard to the above, please consider that it is also possible to obtain free attorney assistance (so-called gratuito patrocinio), if the requesting party has an income lower than EUR 11,369.24. However, victims of a number of criminal actions related to domestic violence, such as stalking, family abuse, female genital mutilation and others, may obtain this free-of-charge attorney assistance regardless of their income.^[26] 

Please see section 4.4.1.