FLASH NEWS
Found dead within 48 hours/ Murders of two students spark calls for 'cultural rebellion' in Italy
2025-04-04 09:15:38 / BOTA
Sara Campanella and Albanian Ilaria Sula were found dead within 48 hours, bringing the number of femicides to 11 this year in Italy.
In Italy, there have been calls for a "cultural rebellion" amid anger and protests over the murder of two students.
Sara Campanella, a 22-year-old biomedical student, was stabbed at a bus stop in the Sicilian city of Messina on Monday afternoon and died while being taken to hospital.
Stefano Argentino, a fellow student at the University of Messina, was later arrested in the town of Noto. His lawyer, Raffaele Leone, told Italian media that Argentino, 27, had confessed to the murder.
Messina prosecutor Antonio D'Amato alleged that Argentino had "continuously and repeatedly" harassed Campanella since she started university two years ago.
Meanwhile, the body of 22-year-old Ilaria Sula, a statistics student at Rome's Sapienza University, was found in a suitcase in a wooded area outside the Italian capital early Wednesday morning. She had been missing since March 23 and is suspected of being stabbed to death. Her ex-boyfriend, Mark Samson, 23, is being questioned by police on suspicion of her murder and concealment of the body.
The killings sparked protests in Messina, Rome and other Italian cities, including Bologna, on Wednesday night.
Antonella Polimeni, the rector of Sapienza University, said Sula's death was a "cruel and brutal femicide that leaves us speechless and heartbroken." She added: "We should no longer stand by and watch incidents of femicide."
A minute's silence was held for Campanella at the University of Messina. Giovanna Spatari, the university's rector, said students were "shocked by this episode of femicides."
The murders have also reignited the political debate over violence against women in Italy, where in 2024 there were 113 femicides, of which 99 were committed by relatives, partners or ex-partners.
Mara Carfagna, secretary of the center-right Noi Moderati party, called for a “cultural rebellion.” “From a regulatory point of view, Italy is more advanced than other countries, but culturally we have not managed to evolve at the same speed,” she told the La Stampa newspaper. “For this we need a rebellion from everyone.”
In March, Giorgia Meloni's government approved a bill which for the first time introduced a legal definition of femicide in criminal law, punishing it with life imprisonment, while increasing penalties for crimes including stalking and sexual violence.
The law followed the strong public reaction to the murder of Giulia Cecchettin, a 22-year-old student who was killed by her ex-boyfriend, Filippo Turetta, in November 2023. Turetta was sentenced to life imprisonment in December.
A group of opposition Democratic Party MPs have argued that "sharp preventive action" is now needed to stop this "continuous massacre of women", starting with education in schools.
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