Franca Viola

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Franca Viola (born January 9, 1948 in Alcamo , Sicily ) became internationally known because in 1966 she was one of the first women in Italy to publicly refuse to marry her tormentor after being raped , just so as not to lose her honor (Matrimonio riparatore) . The rapist, who would have gone unpunished if he had married Viola, was charged and convicted. The process received a lot of media attention in Italy, mainly because a woman opposed traditional and outmoded social conventions. Franca Viola became a pioneer of emancipation and socio-cultural progress in post-war Italy. Her case contributed to a rethinking of the Italian legislature, which on August 5, 1981 finally repealed the criminal law provisions of the Matrimonio riparatore .

Life

origin

Franca Viola grew up in a rural area in Sicily. Her father Bernardo Viola was a landlord in the province of Trapani . In 1963, at the age of 15, Franca Viola became engaged to the 23-year-old Filippo Melodia, a nephew of the Mafia head Vincenzo Rimi , whose clan dominated northwestern Sicily. After Melodia had been sentenced to prison for theft and gang membership, Viola broke off the engagement at her father's request. Shortly afterwards, she became engaged to another man. Melodia spent some time in Germany, then he returned to Alcamo and wanted to revive the relationship with Franca Viola. He chased the young woman and threatened both her father and her new partner. Some sources report that, among other things, a vineyard belonging to the Viola family was set on fire.

Kidnapping and rape

In the early morning hours of December 26, 1965, Melodia and twelve other men broke into the house of the Viola family, beat Franca's mother and kidnapped the girl and her eight-year-old brother, who had clung to her legs to protect his sister. The boy returned to his family either a few hours or two days later, depending on the source, while Franca Viola was held captive for eight days. Sources diverge on the details: some say that she was held at Melodia's sister's house in Alcamo for the entire time; According to other sources, she was only taken there on the sixth day of her detention. Melodia initially mocked and verbally provoked her. After a week he raped Franca Viola several times. He then urged her to marry him now, otherwise she would lose her honor; but she refused.

On January 1, 1966, Melodia's family organized a meeting with Franca Viola's parents to arrange a marriage between Viola and Melodia. The parents pretended to be interested in finding out where their daughter was. On January 2 or January 6, 1966, the police managed to track down the hiding place. She freed Franca Viola and arrested Filippo Melodia.

Refused "Matrimonio riparatore" and criminal trial

According to the social beliefs that were widespread in Sicily at the time, a woman who had been the victim of rape lost her virginity at the same time as her honor, which could only be restored by marrying the rapist. This moral model, known as Matrimonio riparatore (meaning: “repairing marriage”) has been traced back to Old Testament models by some authors. The Matrimonio riparatore found its counterpart in the Italian criminal law in force at the time , which regulated the consequences for the rapist in Article 544 of the Italian Codice Penale : he could not be punished for rape if the victim married him.

Article 544 of the Codice Penale read:

Per i delitti preveduti dal capo primo (…), il matrimonio, che l'autore del reato contragga con la persona offesa, estingue il reato, anche riguardo a coloro che sono concorsi nel reato medesimo; e, se vi è stata condanna, ne cessano l'esecuzione e gli effetti penali.

For each offense of the first section (…), the marriage that the perpetrator of an injury enters into with the injured person extinguishes the crime, including in relation to those who participated in the same crime; in the event of a conviction, the execution of the sentence and all consequences of the sentence end.

After his arrest, Melodia offered Viola a matrimonio riparatore , but she refused. Her father supported her. Her attitude had serious consequences: Because Viola violated traditional beliefs, she and her family were avoided, threatened and publicly insulted by the village community in 1966. Franca Viola's father lost his job, and the family could only move about in public with police protection.

In December 1966 the criminal trial against Filippo Melodia began in the Sicilian city of Trapani , chaired by judge Giovanni Albeggiani. Franca Viola's representative in these proceedings was lawyer Ludovico Corrao , who had been Lord Mayor of Alcamo a few years earlier. The trial of Melodia and the story of Franca Viola on which it is based received a great deal of media attention in Italy. The prosecutor requested 22 years imprisonment for the rapist. The court sentenced Melodia to eleven years in prison, taking into account the tradition ( usanze ) mitigating it. The sentence was later reduced to 10 years. In addition, there was the requirement to stay near Modena for the first 2 years after the discharge . Melodia was released in 1976; he was killed by the Mafia on April 13, 1978 near Modena. Five of Franca Viola's co-accused kidnappers were acquitted and the others received low sentences.

After the trial

During the trial, Filippo Melodia threatened that he would have Franca Viola killed if she marries another man. Nevertheless Viola married her childhood friend Giuseppe Ruisi in December 1968. Their marriage took place with the Italian President Giuseppe Saragat and with Pope Paul VI. Attention, who granted them a private audience. Viola and Ruisi had two sons and a daughter. They still live in Alcamo, their hometown.

consequences

Franca Viola's case sparked a controversial discussion in Italy about the future of Article 544 of the Codice Penale . On the one hand, it has been criticized as a means of suppressing women. Proponents of the provision argued, however, that due to the prevailing social conditions in parts of southern Italy, the matrimonio riparatore was in fact the only option for young couples to marry against their parents' wishes. The discussion dragged on for 15 years. It was not until Law No. 442 of August 5, 1981 that Article 544 of the Codico Penale was repealed.

Award

In 2014 Franca Viola was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic by President Giorgio Napolitano .

reception

The Italian director Damiano Damiani made the feature film La moglie più bella (German title: Law and Passion ) about Franca Viola's life in 1970 . The female protagonist is named Francesca Cimarosa; the role was played by the then 15-year-old Ornella Muti . The rapist is called Vito Juvara in the film; he was portrayed by Alessio Orano .

In 2012, the Sicilian writer Beatrice Monroy published a book about the case with the title Niente ci fu (German There was nothing ). Franca Viola is critical of the book. She believes Monroy “didn't tell her story”.

The 15-minute short documentary Viola, Franca received an invitation to the Manhattan Short Film Festival in 2017 .

literature

youth book
  • Daniele Aristarco: Io dico no! : Storie di eroica disoboperza. Illustrations by Nicolò Pellizzon. Einaudi Ragazzi, San Dorligo della Valle (Trieste) 2017, pp. 133-138.

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b legislature.camera.it
  2. ^ A b Deirdre Pirro: Italian Sketches: The Faces of Modern Italy. The Florentine Press, Prato 2009, ISBN 978-88-902434-4-8 , p. 95.
  3. ^ Letizia Paoli : Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style: Studies in Crime and Public Policy. Oxford University Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-19-534808-8 , p. 56.
  4. ↑ a b c Paola Busolo: Franca Viola. enciclopediadelledonne.it, accessed September 25, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Ettore Ferrari: La Storia di Franca Viola. ilpost.it, January 10, 2018, accessed October 3, 2018 .
  6. ↑ The assignment of this event is not clear in the sources. One source attributes the fire in the vineyard to the phase between the kidnapping and the start of the trial in 1966. Cf. Anthony Appiah: A question of honor: or how moral revolutions come about. CH Beck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-61488-0 , p. 158.
  7. ↑ a b Concita de Greogrio: Franca Viola: "Io che ho 50 anni fa fatto la storia con il mio no all nozze riparatrici". repubblica.it, December 27, 2015, accessed October 3, 2018 .
  8. ↑ About Anthony Appiah: A question of honor: or how moral revolutions come about. CH Beck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-61488-0 , p. 157, with reference to Deuteronomy 22, 28-29.
  9. ↑ Illustration of a half-page report in the Turin daily La Stampa from December 16, 1966 on the website www.ilpost.it (accessed on October 3, 2018).
  10. ↑ Entry on La moglie più bella on the website www.imdb.com (accessed on September 25, 2018).
personal data
SURNAME Viola, Franca
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Scicolone, Sofia Villani (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian rape victim and icon of the women's movement in Italy
DATE OF BIRTH January 9, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Alcamo , Italy