One incident of intimidation every 28 hours: the number of provinces and local authorities affected is rising

84% of the incidents of intimidation recorded in 2025 were of a direct nature. Local councillors and public administration staff – municipal managers and employees, chairpersons of public bodies and subsidiaries, and staff of other local organisations – were directly threatened as individuals. In the remaining 16% of cases, the threats were indirect. In fact, the targets included town halls, offices and municipally-owned facilities, or facilities and vehicles used for waste management, healthcare, water supply, electricity and public transport were destroyed or damaged. Among the indirect threats are acts of intimidation directed at family members: parents, wives, husbands, children, brothers and sisters.

For some years now, there has been a steady decline in threats and attacks against public sector staff: 13 per cent of the total in 2025. Local administrators continue to be the group most frequently targeted by direct threats and intimidation (77 per cent of cases). Among them, mayors are the most frequently targeted (68 per cent), an increase of 7 percentage points compared with 2024.

Arson attacksremain the most common form of intimidation used to threaten local councillors and public sector staff in our country (19.5 per cent, one in five cases), followed by intimidating letters, notes and messages (17%), social media (15%) and verbal threats or threatening phone calls (15%).

An analysis of regional contexts once again confirms a clear distinction between the methods of intimidation in the South compared with those in the Centre-North. Arson, which is the most common method of intimidation in the South and on the Islands (29.5%), does not feature amongst the five most frequently recorded types in the Centre-North. Similarly, threatening letters and messages, which account for 28.5 per cent of intimidation cases in the Centre and North, do not reach 10 per cent of the total number of cases in the South and on the Islands.

Cases of direct and indirect threats involving women accounted for 16 per cent of the total, a figure down by two percentage points compared with 2024. For female administrators, almost one in four cases (24% of the total) took place via social media, followed by arson (23% of cases) and verbal threats (18%).

For several years now, the Report has highlighted the intimidation faced by local councillors and public sector staff from ordinary citizens. These incidents and situations account for a significant proportion of the total number of cases recorded, amounting to 26 per cent in 2025 (compared with 25 per cent in 2024).

39 per cent stems from discontent caused by an administrative decision unwelcome to the public. 19% stems from extremists or self-styled extremists, who often use symbols glorifying both anarchy and fascism. A further 19% can be attributed to genuine social hardship, such as requests for financial assistance or a job.

15% of the 309 cases recorded in 2025 occurred in municipalities which, in the more or less recent past, had been dissolved due to mafia infiltration. Acts of intimidation involving 35 local authorities . From 1991 – the year the law on the dissolution of local authorities due to mafia infiltration was introduced into our legal system – up to 31 March 2026, 404 authorities (municipalities, municipal districts and provincial health authorities) have been subject to the dissolution order.

In 2025, 10 local authorities were dissolved as a result of mafia-style infiltration and influence: Caserta, Marano di Napoli and Poggiomarino in Campania; San Luca, Casabona, Badolato and Altomonte in Calabria; Tremestieri Etneo and Paternò in Sicily; and Aprilia in Lazio.

57% of the cases recorded in 2025 occurred inmunicipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants. 22% occurred in municipalities with between 20,000 and 50,000 inhabitants. The remaining 21% occurred in municipalities with over 50,000 inhabitants. The finding regarding the vulnerability of small municipalities is a trend that has continued in line with previous years, both because Italia is a country built on these local authorities and because of certain characteristics of ‘small municipalities’ in relation to the phenomenon of threats and intimidation.

On the one hand, the relationship between citizens and local authorities in these contexts is more direct and takes place on a daily basis. This ultimately also affects the issue of threats and assaults perpetrated by citizens. On the other hand, with regard to the presence oforganised crime. In fact, mafia organisations, both in their places of origin and in those where they have subsequently established a foothold, favour these contexts for various reasons: advantages in terms of control over the territory and society, a lower police presence, and a certain distance from media scrutiny, which allows them to infiltrate the economy and public administrations more rapidly.

Over 16 years of data collection, Avviso Pubblico has recorded 6,025 acts of intimidation, threats and violence across the country against local councillors and public sector staff working in Italia. The average is 376 incidents of intimidation per year, 31 per month, one per day.

57 per cent of cases were recorded in the four regions where the so-called ‘historic mafias’ originated. In order, these are Sicily, Calabria, Campania and Puglia. The regions of Central Italy (11.5 per cent) and the North-West (11.4 per cent) were more heavily affected than those of the North-East (9 per cent of cases).

The four provinces most affected – Naples, Cosenza, Reggio Calabria and Palermo – accounted for 20 per cent of all incidents of intimidation across the country during the period in question.

Rome is the worst-affected province in Central Italia (6th place nationally with 189 cases). Milan is the worst-affected province in the North-West (12th nationally with 134 cases). Padua is the worst-affected province in the North-East (29th nationally with 76 cases).

Before the report was presented – this time in Naples, at the prefecture, rather than in Rome – there was a flash mob in Piazza del Plebiscito, attended by the mayors of Campania wearing their tricolour sashes, as a sign of solidarity and support for local administratorswho have been subjected to intimidation and pressure. The initiative was organised byANCI Nazionale, ANCI Campania, the City of Naples, Avviso Pubblico and the Prefecture of Naples.