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Teenage girl found dead in abandoned building in Rome

Police in Rome are investigating the suspected rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in an incident that has shocked the city.

Published: 24 October 2018 15:43 CEST
Teenage girl found dead in abandoned building in Rome
A tribute to Desirée Mariottini, who was found dead inside an abandoned building in Rome last week. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

Desirée Mariottini, a 16-year-old from Cisterna di Latina, near Rome, was found dead last week at a building in Rome’s San Lorenzo district.

Though the exact circumstances and cause of the teenager’s death are not yet clear, an autopsy revealed that she had drugs in her system and had been sexually assaulted more than once. Police are currently treating the death as a suspected murder.

Mariottini had called her family late on the evening of October 17 to say she’d missed the bus and would be ‘staying with a friend.’

The next day she was reported missing, and on October 19 her body was discovered at the building, believed to be one of the city’s many ‘occupied’ abandoned buildings, or squats.

An abandoned building in Rome's San Lorenzo district. Photo: ALBERTO PIZZOLI / AFP

An anonymous call had been made to emergency services at 3am, local media reports. 

Ambulance staff were then stuck outside, as the entrance was chained and padlocked shut. Firefighters had to force the door open to allow paramedics to reach the girl’s body.

Prosecutors investigating the disturbing case faced added difficulties after the death was initially misreported, delaying the investigation for three days; a hurried report by local police described the victim as a 25-30 year old woman who died of an overdose, with no apparent signs of violence.

READ ALSO: At least 114 women were murdered in Italy this year

A witness has however come forward to say he’d been at the building “at midnight or half past midnight.”

Speaking on the Rai television show ‘Storie Italiane’, the witness, a Senegalese man, said that when he arrived “there was a woman screaming.”

“There was another girl on the bed; they had put a blanket over her but you could see her head,” he said. “I don’t know if she was breathing, she seemed dead already. The other girl was screaming and saying she was dead.”

He said there were six or seven other people in the room. Several of them have now reportedly been identified by investigators.

San Lorenzo is a central Rome district known for its nightlife, popular with students of the nearby La Sapienza University.

Flowers and candles have been laid at its entrance in a tribute to Mariottini, and the gate has been painted with red hearts and the words ‘Justice for Desirée. San Lorenzo does not forget you.’

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CRIME

REVEALED: Where in Italy you’re most likely to be a victim of crime

From theft and home burglary to cyber fraud and extortion, the latest figures reveal where in Italy you are most likely to fall victim to crime and the most common types of offences in major cities around the country.

Published: 17 September 2024 11:15 CEST
REVEALED: Where in Italy you're most likely to be a victim of crime

While Italy is among the safest countries in the world – it ranked 33rd out of 163 in the latest Global Peace Index report, right above the UK – crime is still a concern, especially in metropolitan cities and tourist hotspots.

According to the annual crime report from newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, which collated the most recent data from Italy’s Department of Public Security, Milan was the Italian city with the highest crime rate in 2023.

Overall, some 230,394 crimes were reported in the northern metropolis last year, which corresponded to 7,094 offences for every 100,000 residents.

Milan was followed by Italy’s capital, Rome, with 6,071 reported crimes for every 100,000 residents (up by nearly 600 compared to 2022) and Florence, with 6,053.

The top ten was completed by Rimini (6,002 reports for every 100,000 residents), Turin (5,685), Bologna (5,539), Prato (4,887), Imperia (4,838), Venice (4,825) and Livorno (4,743).

At the other end of the spectrum, Oristano, Sardinia, was the Italian city with the lowest crime rate in 2023 as it ‘only’ saw 1,511 offences for every 100,000 residents. 

Oristano was followed by Potenza, Basilicata (1,934) and Treviso, Veneto (2,258).

Single-offence rankings

While the overall crime rate ranking provides a picture of Italy’s major crime hotspots, it doesn’t allow for any insight into the types of offences committed locally, which is why it is worth looking into single-offence rankings. 

Milan, Rome and Rimini (a popular seaside resort on Emilia Romagna’s Adriatic coast) were the Italian cities with the highest theft rates in 2023, with the northern city registering nearly 3,900 reported thefts (furti) for every 100,000 residents and the capital stopping just shy of the 3,500 mark.

Milan was also Italy’s least-safe city when it came to petty theft and pickpocketing, with over 900 such offences reported for every 100,000 residents.

READ ALSO: How bad is pickpocketing in Italy’s major cities?

Florence was the Italian city with the highest robbery rate (rapine), with 136 offences for every 100,000 residents. 

The Tuscan city was followed by Milan (128) and Prato (124).

Outside of big cities and popular tourist destinations, a number of smaller and, perhaps, slightly unassuming Italian cities had their own crime ‘specialisations’ in 2023. 

For instance, Ragusa, Sicily, ranked first in vehicle theft, while Pisa, Tuscany, came in first in reported home burglary offences.

Trieste, Friuli Venezia Giulia, had the highest sexual assault rate (24 reports for every 100,000 residents) in the country, whereas Crotone ranked first for attempted murder.

READ ALSO: The 8 red flags to look out for to avoid rental scams in Italy

Turin came in first for cyber fraud and online scams, while Isernia, Molise, was Italy’s extortion capital. 

National picture

At a national level, reported crimes were up by 3.8 percent compared to 2022, with online fraud and robbery registering 10.3- and 9.5-percent increases respectively. 

Assault offences also registered a 3.1-percent year-on-year increase, while there were 341 murders in 2023 – up by 13 against 2019. 

According to Marco Dugato, a researcher at the Crime Observatory of Milan’s Cattolica University, the latest increases “must be monitored, particularly for certain types of crime”.

In particular, “the rise of more impulsive, less planned, but more aggressive forms of criminal activity” such as assault and robbery “is of concern”. 

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