How did social and institutional infrastructures cope with the issue of extramarital sexual violence in the early nineteenth-century Italian Alpine and pre-Alpine Arc? The essay begins to answer this overlooked question by considering the context of Restoration Lombardy as a privileged viewpoint, due to its geographical variety and to the modernity of the rules on rape contained in its penal law, the Austrian Criminal Code of 1803. An in-depth scrutiny of the legal proceedings from the Criminal Courts of First Instance in three Provinces – Como, Brescia, Cremona – between 1818 and 1833 elucidates the main characteristics of sexual violence cases in these areas. Moreover, special attention is dedicated to unearthing the social practices employed to restore female honour, the trends in the judges’ decisions, and the kind of solidarity networks that intervened in support of the victims.
Per una storia della violenza sessuale nella regione alpina: riflessioni sulla Lombardia preunitaria (1818-1833)
Re Federica
2024
Abstract
How did social and institutional infrastructures cope with the issue of extramarital sexual violence in the early nineteenth-century Italian Alpine and pre-Alpine Arc? The essay begins to answer this overlooked question by considering the context of Restoration Lombardy as a privileged viewpoint, due to its geographical variety and to the modernity of the rules on rape contained in its penal law, the Austrian Criminal Code of 1803. An in-depth scrutiny of the legal proceedings from the Criminal Courts of First Instance in three Provinces – Como, Brescia, Cremona – between 1818 and 1833 elucidates the main characteristics of sexual violence cases in these areas. Moreover, special attention is dedicated to unearthing the social practices employed to restore female honour, the trends in the judges’ decisions, and the kind of solidarity networks that intervened in support of the victims.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
