By A 23-year-old Italian man has been sentenced to life in prison after admitting to stabbing his ex-girlfriend in a closely watched case that sparked public outcry and revived the debate over violence against women in the country.
A court in Venice on Tuesday convicted Filippo Turetta in the murder of 22-year-old Guilia Cecchettin in November 2023, shortly after she broke up with him and one week before she was due to graduate from the University of Padua.
The court heard that Turetta stabbed the biomedical engineering student 70 times before stuffing her body into garbage bags and discarding it at the bottom of a ditch. He then fled to Germany, where he was arrested after her body was discovered seven days later.
Turetta, who admitted to killing Cecchettin but denied it was premeditated, was also found guilty of illegal possession of weapons, kidnapping and concealment of a corpse. He was also ordered to pay damages to Cecchettin’s family and cover their legal fees.
Cecchettin’s murder was one of more than 100 cases of femicide in Italy last year, primarily at the hands of family members or romantic partners.
The student’s death gripped the nation after details emerged about Turetta’s possessive nature and Cecchettin’s attempts to end the relationship. More than 10,000 people attended her funeral last December.
Filippo Turetta was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday.Pool Rai / AP
To raise awareness of domestic violence, Cecchettin’s family released a list written by her a few months before her death titled “15 reasons I had to break up with him.”
In it, she cited requirements for her to help him study and noted that he would complain if she didn’t send him enough emojis. In an 80-page statement written from jail in childlike handwriting, Turetta also acknowledged that he could not accept any outcome other than getting back with her.
However, it was emotional comments from Cecchettin’s sister, Elena Cecchettin, that prompted a political furor and reignited public debate over patriarchy and gender roles in Italian society.
In an article in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra, Elena wrote that Turetta was not “a monster” but rather the “healthy son of a patriarchal society.”
Protesters in Milan after the killing of Giulia Cecchettin.Alessandro Bremec / NurPhoto via Getty Images file
“A monster is an exception, a person external to society, a person for whom society should not take responsibility. And instead the responsibility exists,” she wrote in November 2023, according to a Google translation.
The far-right government was lambasted by Cecchettin’s family and opposition parties after Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara argued last month that the patriarchy no longer exists in Italy and that the rise in sexual violence was instead linked to illegal immigration.
He was speaking at the launch of a foundation established by Cecchettin’s father in memory of his daughter.
The Italian government did not immediately respond to NBC’s request for comment on the remarks.
Portraits of Giulia Cecchettin and Gisele Pelicot, a French woman who emerged as a prominent survivor after being raped by dozens of men.Sheila Gallerani / Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images file
In the wake of Cecchettin’s death, the Italian Senate last year approved new measures aimed at addressing violence against women, including stricter restraining orders and heightened surveillance of men found guilty of gender-based violence.
Still, nongovernment organizations and opposition politicians believe the measures do not go far enough and are demanding that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni take further steps to combat gender inequality and reduce crime against women in the country.
