Local authorities

Local administrators increasingly threatened, Sicily takes the black jersey

In the data of Avviso Pubblico the increase in threats in 2024. Under fire especially mayors, 25% of intimidations from disgruntled citizens

by Patrizia Maciocchi

8 July 2025

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5' min read

Key points

Sicily and the Agrigento area the most affected territories
Every fourth case between May and June
The means chosen to intimidate
25% of intimidation by citizens
The trend over the past 15 years

5' min read

In 2024, intimidation against local administrators is on the rise again, with mayors leading the way among the most targeted. It is not only the mafia who 'sign' the threats, in 26% of cases they are extremist fans of anarchy as well as fascism, and in 25% of cases it is ordinary citizens who choose this form of 'protest', dissatisfied with the choices made by administrators, first and foremost that of abolishing citizenship income. The hottest time to strike is around local elections. The preferred means are different from north to south: fires in the south, minatory letters and social insults in the centre south.

The Avviso Pubblico report - presented in Rome at the headquarters of the National Federation of the Press - records 328 acts of intimidation, threats and violence (+4% compared to 2023, when there were 315) directed against first citizens, councillors, city and municipal councillors, regional administrators and public administration employees during the year. This is a plus sign that comes after five consecutive years of constant decline, and the number of threatened cases is growing again with numbers that are still far from the peak of 2018 (574 intimidations). What is falling, however, is the number of municipalities affected (206, - 2% compared to 2023) and of provinces involved (69, - 10% compared to the previous year). Fewer regions are also affected (16), and Valle d'Aosta, Trentino Alto Adige, Molise and Basilicata remain unaffected by intimidation. Compared to 2023, the distribution of cases by geographical macro-areas sees a slight increase in intimidations in the South (62.5% of the national total), mainly as a result of the increase in the number of cases registered in the Islands (from 55 to 68 cases).

Sicily and the Agrigento area the hardest hit

It goes to Sicily the black jersey for the region most affected by acts of intimidation in 2024, regaining the sad record achieved in 2022: there are 51 cases registered on the island (+46% compared to 2023). They are followed by Calabria (43), the only region of the four in which the so-called historic mafias were born, where there is a decrease compared to the previous year, Campania and Puglia (41 cases censused each). Together they account for 53% of the acts of intimidation recorded in 2024 in the country.

Veneto, with 23 episodes, is the most affected region in the centre-north area, followed by Lazio which, with 21 episodes, doubles the 2023 figure, and Lombardy (19). Sardinia (17), Tuscany (16) and Emilia-Romagna (15) close the top 10 positions..

Agrigento, an area that has already been at the top of the ranking for a number of years, is the province most targeted by acts of intimidation in 2024, with 26 cases distributed among 11 municipalities. The provincial ranking is followed by Cosenza (21), Caserta and Lecce (16), Naples (15), Foggia (14) and Padua (13).

One in four cases between May and June

The average number of cases recorded in the period between May and June is one every 18 hours. The election campaign - 47% of Italian municipalities renewed their councils in the elections on 8 and 9 June - is confirmed as the hottest period, not in the meteorological sense, of the calendar year.

Last year saw a decrease, albeit not by much, in the number of threats and attacks against staff of the Public Administration: 16.5% of the total. Local administrators continued to be among the most targeted subjects (64% of cases), led by mayors (61%), although with a drop of 8 percentage points compared to 2023.

13% of the total cases involved candidates in local elections, a figure that has more than doubled since last year.

The means chosen to intimidate

Among the means chosen to intimidate, fires are again the most popular (17% of cases). But the picture changes according to latitude, with six other different types above the 10% mark: intimidating letters/emails/letters/letters (13%), use of social networks (13%), damage to cars, houses, other vehicles (12%), offensive and threatening writing on city walls and streets (12%), physical aggression (11%).

Analysing the territorial contexts once again confirms a substantial difference between North and South. Fires, which are confirmed as the first type of threat in the South and the Islands (one case in four), are not among the five most common types found in the Centre-North. Similarly, offensive writing and threatening letters/messages, which together account for about 40% of the cases recorded in the Centre-North, are not among the top five most frequently used types in the South and Islands.

25% of intimidations by citizens

The Avviso Pubblico report highlights the role played in intimidation by ordinary citizens, authors of 25% of the threats carried out in 2024 (26% in 2023). In 36% of cases, intimidation acts are the result of discontent over an administrative choice.

Another 26% come from extremists or self-styled extremists, who often use symbols praising both anarchy and fascism. Twenty per cent refer to genuine social unease, such as the demand for an economic subsidy, a job or the attacks and threats resulting from the cancellation of citizenship income last year.

One in five intimidations in municipalities dissolved for mafia reasons. 21% of the 328 cases surveyed in 2024 occurred in municipalities that were dissolved in the more or less recent past for mafia infiltration. These acts of intimidation involved as many as 43 municipalities. Small municipalities are confirmed as the most vulnerable.

52% of the cases surveyed in 2024 occurred in municipalities below 20,000 inhabitants. 27% in municipalities between 20 thousand and 50 thousand. The remaining 21% in municipalities with more than 50 thousand.

The trend over the past 15 years

In 15 years of data collection, Avviso Pubblico has surveyed 5,716 acts of intimidation, threats and violence against local administrators, civil servants and public administration staff in Italy. The average is 381 intimidations per year, 32 every month, one per day.

The four regions where the so-called historical mafias originated - Sicily, Calabria, Campania and Apulia - recorded 3,286 cases from 2010 to 2024, 57.5% of the national total. The first region in the Centre-North is Lombardy (337 cases), followed by Lazio, Tuscany and Veneto.

In the provinces of Naples, Cosenza, Reggio Calabria and Palermo - the only ones to exceed 200 cases - 1,168 acts of intimidation were censured, over 20% of the total. The top 10 positions once again see a strong presence of territories representing the four regions where the historical mafias originated, with the exception of Rome (6th place with 180 cases censused in 15 years) and Nuoro (10th place with 139 cases censused). Noteworthy is Milan's 12th place (126 cases) and Turin's 14th (116). More than 20% of the municipalities are affected.

The 5,716 intimidating acts that occurred on the national territory from 2010 to 2024 were recorded in 1,683 Italian municipalities, 21.3% of the total; 978 municipalities (58% of the total) have been affected by at least one intimidating act and 705 municipalities (42%) have been affected by intimidating acts for two or more years; 19 municipalities in which intimidating acts have occurred for at least ten years: Acerra, Bari, Bologna, Brindisi, Catania, Catanzaro, Corigliano Rossano, Foggia, Gela, Genoa, Milan, Modena, Naples, Palermo, Reggio Calabria, Rome, Siderno, Turin and Vittoria.

Cosenza is the province with the highest number of municipalities affected by the phenomenon (61), followed by Naples and Reggio Calabria (60 each). Campania is the region with the highest number of municipalities involved (216), followed by Sicily (213) and Calabria (204). But, in terms of the percentage between the number of municipalities and the total number of municipalities in the region, it is Puglia that records the highest figure (62%), followed by Sicily (54%) and Calabria (50%).

With regard to the percentage between the number of affected municipalities and the total number of municipalities in the province - taking into account territories with at least 20 municipalities - the figures of seven provinces with at least 60% of the municipalities affected by intimidation in 15 years of monitoring stand out: Naples, Reggio Calabria, Nuoro, Vibo Valentia, Agrigento, Bari and Taranto.