Naples, the hidden map of gender violence: ex-partners in 90% of cases

Naples and its province remain a hotbed of gender-based violence: a phenomenon that cuts across neighborhoods, towns, and social classes, and which in 90% of cases erupts in relationships that have ended badly, often before the eyes of children. In this scenario, the Naples Carabinieri are working to transform reporting from a last-ditch act into a viable first step, with analysis, local outreach, and dedicated listening centers.

A transversal and deep-rooted phenomenon

The data collected by the Provincial Command reveals a clear picture: gender violence is not confined to a single social class, neighborhood, or age group, but affects Naples and its province without distinction, including "normal" families, young and old couples. Half of the incidents occur in the capital, while the other half occur in the surrounding municipalities, confirming a systemic problem that knows no boundaries between the city center and the periphery.

The recurring patterns describe men incapable of accepting separation, overwhelmed by pathological jealousy, obsessive control, and a need for dominance, often developed in relationships already marked by years of "normalized" abuse at home. It is in this tangle of emotional dependencies, personal frailties, and distorted cultural models that violence finds fertile ground, eventually escalating into femicide.

The time of denunciation and the weight of fear

The Carabinieri's analysis also reveals the moment when women decide to break their silence: most turn to law enforcement immediately after the first episode, often because the violence is so severe that the risk to themselves and their children is obvious, or because a family network pushes them to seek help. But a significant portion of reports are filed only after three to six months, the time when fear, financial dependence, feelings of guilt, and the hope that "he might change" delay the move to the police station.

In 8 out of 10 cases, the victims have children, often minors, who directly or indirectly witness the screaming, beatings, and threats. The presence of children makes it more difficult to sever ties, as it requires finding a new home, a stable income, and a support network. At the same time, it becomes a tool for blackmail: visits, custody, and photos or videos used as tools of pressure.

The ex-partner, the darkest hour

In 90% of the cases surveyed, the perpetrator of violence is a former partner or ex-husband: separation is the most dangerous phase, when the end of the relationship is experienced as a narcissistic wound and a loss of control. This is the case with the threats at the gas station in Somma Vesuviana, where a 49-year-old man, previously reported, blocked his ex's car and attacked her with punches and shouts, a knife in his purse, and the demand to "just talk" while attempting to force the door open.

The same blind rage is found in Acerra, where a 20-year-old spots his 19-year-old ex-girlfriend sitting on a bench with her friends, attacks her, and then hurls his scooter at the group, hitting them all before fleeing: only chance prevents yet another foretold femicide. In other incidents, the obsession translates into relentless stalking, following, incessant phone calls, and threats to share intimate videos of his children just to bring back a broken relationship.

Martina, Olena, Daniela, Marta: names that remain

Four names, four stories that have recently made headlines in Naples and its province: Martina Carbonaro, Olena Vasyl'yeva, Daniela Strazzullo, and Marta, a young Ukrainian woman murdered in Barano d'Ischia. Martina, a minor, was found dead after hours of searching: her alleged killer confessed to hiding her body, a multi-aggravated homicide that shook Afragola.

Olena, wounded in the head by her husband with a carpenter's mallet for trivial reasons, struggled in the hospital for weeks before dying, turning an attempted domestic homicide into a femicide. Daniela, seriously injured by a gunshot wound in a car in Volla, died a few hours later, in a scenario investigators interpreted as a possible attempted murder-suicide. Marta, in Ischia, after months of abuse, was left wounded on a cliff and then found and suffocated by her partner: the autopsy revealed the murder pattern and led to the charges being upgraded.

The daily routine of beatings: "proximity" violence

Alongside the cases that make headlines, the Carabinieri's map is dotted with "ordinary" incidents, taking place on apartment building stairways, in village streets, and on suburban apartments. In Pozzuoli, a man had been abusing his ex-girlfriend in front of their young son for some time, even attempting to throw her from a lookout. Only the woman's desperate resistance prevented her from falling, while the police tracked him down and arrested him for attempted murder and mistreatment.

Also in Pozzuoli, another wife is attacked on the street by her 50-year-old husband, a past victim of unreported violence. Her screams and cries for help attract three young men, who snatch her from him while they wait for the patrol to arrive. In Qualiano, the Carabinieri responded to an anonymous tip-off in a ransacked apartment: they found a 40-year-old man who had beaten his wife in front of their three children, threatening her with a knife. Drugs and a long trail of previous complaints were also discovered in the house.

When the executioner is in the family

Violence comes not only from partners or exes, but also from within the family of origin: in Naples' Rione Alto district, a 44-year-old man drags his 86-year-old mother out the door, bloodied and screaming, attracting passersby and the Carabinieri. Neighbors recount arguments and cries for help they've heard in the past, until yet another attack leads to an arrest for mistreatment and aggravated assault.

In another case, a 51-year-old father attempts to break down the door of his 24-year-old daughter, who has barricaded herself in her apartment, terrified, after a series of threats and stalking. The scene unfolds in the heart of the city's nightlife, while patrols are busy carrying out night patrols. Their patrols are interrupted to rush to the home, where the man continues to threaten the girl, even in front of the officers.

Stalking, sieges and obsessions

Violence doesn't always involve fists; it often wears her down with text messages, stalking, stalking her outside her home, and psychological pressure that saps her daily freedom. In Vico Equense, a 44-year-old man turns his neighbor into an obsession: he prints photos of her from social media, frames them, and keeps them on his bedside table, patrols the landing, follows her down the street, showers her with unwanted gifts and then insults, until she dreads every outing.

In Monte di Procida, a 67-year-old man chases his ex-partner in a car, armed with a box cutter, after months of unreported stalking and threats. A call to 112 triggers a search, the vehicle is stopped, and the weapon is seized. In Ercolano, meanwhile, a woman is under silent siege: her ex-husband is outside her house at night and in the places she frequents during the day, ringing the intercom, observing her, forcing her into psychological counseling until yet another "he's here again" over the phone convinces the Carabinieri to intervene and arrest him for stalking.

Twenty years of violence and a burned house

In Pollena Trocchia, a family's story tells what it means to live for two decades under the same roof with a man consumed by drug, alcohol, and gambling addictions. Since 2005, insults, threats, beatings, and separations have followed, until, faced with the couple's refusal to get back together, the ex-husband sets fire to the house. The house is destroyed, fortunately empty, but the traces of the fire are left on his hands when he turns himself in at the police station.

Before surrendering to the Carabinieri, the man also assaulted a passerby, snatched his phone, and locked him in a courtyard, believing he was having an affair with his ex-wife. Within minutes, the domestic violence escalated to kidnapping, robbery, and arson, recapturing years of harassment that the woman had already reported but was unable to break the cycle.

“Rooms of One’s Own” and the Safety Net

Alongside its repressive efforts, the Carabinieri in Naples are focusing on new spaces and languages ​​to foster the courage to speak out: in the barracks of Capodimonte, Caivano, Ercolano, and Podgora, "rooms of one's own" are operating, welcoming spaces where women can tell their stories away from crowded corridors and prying eyes. The project stems from a memorandum of understanding with Soroptimist International d'Italia and is gradually being expanded throughout the region, with new rooms inaugurated and in the process of being opened, including to coincide with November 25th.

These spaces are part of a broader network involving prosecutors' offices, social services, anti-violence centers, associations, and schools, with training and awareness-raising sessions aimed at students and families to help them recognize early warning signs. The message is clear: gender-based violence isn't fought solely with arrest, but with a comprehensive response that combines protection, listening, psychological support, and economic independence.

A number to call, a step not to take alone

112 remains the primary point of contact, active 24 hours a day, for reporting any incident of violence or threat, even when it "seems like just an argument." In addition, 1522—the national anti-violence hotline—offers free, anonymous counseling, referrals to services, and information on ways to escape violence.

From the stories collected in recent months, it's clear that often the smallest gesture can change the course of events: a phone call from a child, a confide in a Carabiniere encountered at the station, the intervention of a passerby who doesn't look away. Reporting remains a huge step, especially when there are children at home, financial blackmail, and years of terror, but it shouldn't be a step taken alone: ​​protection becomes real when silence gives way to trust in a network that can and must embrace.