Prison and rehabilitation

‘The Phantom Suitcase’: the female prisoners at Giudecca take to the catwalk in outfits they have sewn from scratch

The fashion show will take place on 10 September in the courtyard of the prison and is one of the fringe events organised as part of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival

by Camilla Curcio

9 September 2026

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Uno dei vestiti realizzati dalle detenute della Casa di reclusione femminile della Giudecca

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Freedom, at times, lies hidden in the folds of a dress. In the hum of a sewing machine as it reinforces the cuff of a sleeve and the hem of a pair of trousers. Or in the chance to showcase, on a real catwalk, a garment that until recently was nothing more than paper patterns and fabric. The female prisoners at the Giudecca Women’s Prison (Venice) are well aware of this; thanks to Banco Lotto No. 10 – the ethical fashion workshop set up within the prison and run since 2003 by the social cooperative Il Cerchio – have the opportunity to develop skills, play an active part in the production process and nurture a talent from which to build a new future.

An opportunity that becomes even more tangible during the fashion shows that Giudecca has been organising for years to showcase to the public the creations born within the walls of its tailor’s workshop and the fruits of a craft that is never merely manual labour. This year’s event, however, has an added bonus: on 10 September, the fashion show will take place in the prison courtyard and the models will not be – as in the past – professional models, but the female prisoners who created those outfits from scratch.

Between gambling and responsibility

Conceived and organised by the current director of the correctional facility, Maurizia Campobasso, as part of the programme of events running alongside the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, ‘La valigia fantasma» hints at the meaning of the event right in its title. Indeed, it reflects a project launched some twenty years ago now, which sees tailoring training and paid employment as the driving forces for effective reintegration and the foundations for a future that is still within reach. Starting with a suitcase to be filled with experiences, skills and life lessons.

Whilst, on the one hand, the decision to place female prisoners at the centre of the fashion show is an ambitious undertaking, on the other hand it can only be seen as another, fundamental piece in a journey towards empowerment which, rather than taking a hostile or punitive approach, seeks to set as constructive a course as possible. By offering a mission, paths to follow and goals to achieve. This ensures that professional skills, resilience and self-confidence are also packed into the suitcase that the female prisoners will take with them when they leave prison to return to normal life.

Alcuni dei vestiti realizzati dalle detenute del carcere femminile della Giudecca

The pop-up

But that’s not all: from 4 September to 12 September, and again against the backdrop of of the film festival (right on the Lido di Venezia and not far from the Palazzo del Cinema, at Lungomare Marconi 32), a pop-up dedicated to showcasing (and selling) the ‘Una per una”, a range of 30 garments featuring elegant designs and vibrant colours, crafted from fine natural fabrics under the creative direction of Margherita Uliano. And all made by the female prisoners who took part in the workshops at Banco Lotto No. 10. A bridge between the outside and inside worlds: through their purchases, members of the public can support the training programmes, the purchase of materials and the educational projects promoted by the Il Cerchio cooperative.

A best-practice model

The tailoring workshops, projects and experiments that have been launched are clearly one of the key links in a virtuous cycle of management and organisation, covering both training and work within the prison. This is an issue on which – at a regulatory level – particular emphasis is placed the draft Presidential Decree approved at a preliminary reading on 4 June by the Council of Ministers and designed to facilitate prisoners’ access to sound professional opportunities, placing great emphasis on synergy with businesses (public and private) and the local community. The draft Presidential Decree aims to extend these measures from those prisons currently recognised as ‘model prisons’ to the rest of Italia.

In the case of Giudecca, this model has been – and continues to be – facilitated by a number of favourable conditions, including the type of inmates housed there (female prisoners in the ‘medium-security’ category, who have therefore committed offences technically classifiable as ‘common’ crimes, such as fraud, theft and isolated homicides) and are not as potentially dangerous as, for example, inmates in the ‘high-security’ category. Then there is the particular vibrancy of the local area and its business community, which makes it possible to establish exchanges and reach a wider range of stakeholders among small businesses and cooperatives, compared to other initiatives scattered across the country and in areas that are certainly less favourable.

It is, of course, a scheme that could be improved. Here too, in fact, there is still a great deal of progress to be made, particularly in resolving the issue that the draft Presidential Decree has brought back into the spotlight: opening up the prison to the outside world as much as possible and ensuring that female prisoners are given work opportunities that provide them with tangible professional skills in which they can invest in the years to come.