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In 1966, Franca Voila became the first Italian woman to challenge the country's cultural convention refusing a "rehabilitating marriage" (Italian: matrimonio riparatore) with her attacker after being kidnapped and raped. She was the first Italian women who had been raped to publicly refuse to marry her rapist. Instead, she and her family courageously appealed to the law to prosecute the rapist. With the eyes of a nation upon Viola, the trial had a wide resonance in Italy, as her behavior clashed with the traditional social conventions in Southern Italy, whereby a woman would lose her honour if she did not marry the man to whom she lost her virginity. Her statement became a rallying cry for other women to follow suit. Franca Viola thus became a important symbol of the cultural progress and the emancipation of women in post-war Italy.
Franca Viola was born in the rural town of Alcamo, Sicily, the oldest daughter of Bernardo Viola, a farmer, and his wife, Vita Ferra. In 1963, at the age of 15, she engaged to Filippo Melodia, a mafia connected local member, then aged 23, but after Melodia was arrested for a theft, Viola's father insisted she break off the engagement and reject him, which she did. Melodia then moved to Germany. By 1965, Voila was engaged to another man. When Melodia returned to Alcamo and tried to rekindle with Voila, stalking her and threatening both her father and boyfriend.
" I do not love you, I will not marry you. " - FRANCA VIOLA
On 26th December 1965, Melodia and a group of 12 armed companions stormed into Viola's home and abducted Franca by dragging her into a car, in the process beating Viola’s mother and also taking Franca’s 8 year old brother Mariano, who refused to let go of his sister. Mariano was released a few hours later, but Franca was held for 8 days in the home of Melodia’s sister and her husband (a farmhouse on the outskirts of the town), where she was repeatedly raped. Melodia told her that now she would be forced to marry him so as not to become a “dishonored” woman, but Viola replied that she had no intention of marriage and, moreover, that she would have him sued for kidnapping and rape.
On 31 December, Melodia contacted Viola's father Bernardo for the appeasement between the families of the man and woman who eloped. Bernardo pretended to negotiate with the kidnappers, saying he agreed and consented to the marriage, while collaborating with the Carabinieri police in preparing a successful dragnet operation. Viola was released and her kidnappers were arrested on 2 January 1966, seven days before her eighteenth birthday. She said her father asked her if she really wanted to marry Melodia and, when she said she did not, he told her he would do everything possible to help her.
Traditionally according to the social code, this choice would make her a “donna svergognata“: a “woman without honour”, as she had lost her virginity without getting married. It is notable that these concepts were not exclusive to Sicily or rural areas; to some extent, they were also implicit in the Italian Penal Code of the time, namely Article 544, which equated rape to a crime against “public morality” rather than a personal offence, and formalized the idea of a “rehabilitating marriage” (matrimonio riparatore), stating that such an appealing crime would be excused if a rapist who married his victim would have his crime forgiven for his violence and the woman’s “honor” restored. This was not just an informal tradition, but an explicit exception in the Italian criminal code.
The trial was a sensation in Alcamo and beyond. Crowds flocked to debates about the trial, which were later relayed by the New York Times with the most patronizing of headlines: “No Admirers Call On Sicily’s Franca.” Despite being the central figure of these events, the public narrative overshadowed Viola’s thoughts and aims on the matter. Newspaper reports described her as “gentle,” “slim,” and “pretty.”
Melodia was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to 11 years in prison, with seven of his accomplices receiving four year terms. The article of law whereby a rapist could extinguish his crime by marrying his victim was not abolished until 1981. Sexual violence became a crime against the person only in 1996. Melodia was released from prison in 1976 and banished from Sicily for his mob ties. He was shot dead in Modena two years later.
Franca Viola married Giuseppe Ruisi in December 1968, when she was almost 21 years old. They had liked each other since childhood. Ruisi, an accountant, insisted he would have married the girl he had always loved despite threats and rumours, but had to request a firearm license after obtaining the marriage license, to protect himself and his future wife. Both the Italian President Giuseppe Saragat and Pope Paul VI publicly expressed their appreciation of Franca Viola’s courage and their solidarity with the couple. Viola and Ruisi would go on to have three children. Franca Viola still lives in Alcamo with her husband.
The Italian president sent $40 as a wedding present (over $250 today) and the country’s Transport Minister gave the newlyweds a month of free railway rides.
Melodia was released from prison in 1976 and banished from Sicily for his mob ties. He was shot dead in Modena two years later.
Franca still lives in Alcamo with her husband, two sons, and grandchildren.
In 2014, on this day, she was honoured as "Grande Ufficiale al merito della Repubblica italiana" -Great official for merit of Italy for her role in fighting the misogynist mentality of those times, and contributed to re-think the approach towards rape and the role of women in Italian society.
The Italian filmmaker Marta Savina has brought Viola’s story to life in a 15-minute short film that was recently screened at the Tribeca Film Festival. For Savina, Viola, Franca (2017) was a way to overwrite the punditry that had overshadowed Viola’s brave choice at the time. This is done through the physical expressiveness of lead actress Claudia Gusmano, whose sole line is the word “no.”
“We’re used to thinking of leaders and people that change history as these sort of outspoken people,” says Savina. She wanted to show how Viola, who has lived outside of the spotlight, remains a role model for her resistance.
The short film, which will eventually be feature length, also shows the importance of male allies in holding other men accountable for gender-based harassment and violence. “[Viola’s] family and her father specifically really supported her,” Savina explains.
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