Prostitution in Italy

Prostitution in Italy (Italian: prostituzione), defined as the exchange of sexual acts for money, is legal, although organized prostitution, whether indoors in brothels or controlled by third parties, is prohibited. Brothels were banned in 1958. A euphemism often used to refer to street prostitutes in Italy is Lucciole (lit. "fireflies"), while escorts are referred to as Squillo (onomatopoeia referring to the sound of a ringing telephone, making it analogous to "call girl").

Prostitution thrived in Italy in the Middle Ages. The city of Venice declared in 1358 that brothels were indispensable, and courtesans achieved high social status in Venice, particularly in the 17th century.

The Regolamentazione, or the regulation system of prostitution, was established in 1861, with Italian unification, modeled on the French Napoleonic system of Réglementation and the Bureau des Moeurs (a government office tasked with regulating vice, which included officially registering prostitutes). An 1859 decree, by Count Camillo Benso di Cavour to aid the French army which supported the Piedmontese in their fight against Austria, authorized the opening of houses controlled by the state for the exercise of prostitution in Lombardy. On 15 February 1860, the decree was signed into law (referred to as Legge Cavour) with the enactment of the "Regulations of the Security Service on Prostitution".

A further law (Legge Crispi), adopted on 29 March 1888, prohibited the selling of food and drinks, and parties, dances, and songs in brothels, and banned such establishments near places of worship, schools, and kindergartens. It also provided that the shutters should always remain closed, which is the origin of the Italian expression "closed houses" (case chiuse). A further amendment was the Legge Nicotera of 1891. Under this system, prostitution in Italy was fully legal in private houses. A system of sifilicomi (hospitals for people/women in prostitution) was also set up, under the belief that they were the main sources of spreading venereal diseases.

Although prostitutes found this regulated system oppressive, they developed ways to resist it. During the Fascist rule (1922–1943), more restrictive measures were gradually introduced in 1923, 1933, and 1940.

Overall, the system was considered a failure, and as in other European countries with Réglementation, movement for its abolition started to grow from the late 19th century, supported by leftist and feminist groups. This abolitionism of the time is often considered confusing, since it has been applied to both the abolition of regulations restricting prostitution and the abolition of prostitution itself. However, these forces led to the introduction of a new system in Italy that abolished regulation, but not prostitution as such.

The Legge Merlin (L75/1958) (the Merlin Law, named after its main author, the Socialist Party member of parliament Lina Merlin), came into power on 20 September 1958. This law, still in force today, with very little changes, revoked the regulation system, banned brothels, and established a new criminal offence called "exploitation of prostitution" (sfruttamento della prostituzione), with the aim to punish procuring of sexual services. Specifically, article 3.8 provides penalties for "any person who, in any way, promotes or exploits the prostitution of others" (chiunque in qualsiasi modo favorisca o sfrutti la prostituzione altrui). Article 3.3 lists a number of public places where prostitution is prohibited, such as houses, hotels, dance halls, and entertainment clubs. Article 5 prohibits solicitation (libertinaggio) "in a public place, or place open to the public, or soliciting in a scandolous or disturbing manner, or follows a person and invites them by acts or words". Article 7 prohibited registration and mandatory health checks for prostitutes.

The Merlin Law follows the standard abolitionist (abolishing regulation) view of prostitution control policy, prohibiting trafficking, exploitation, and aiding and abetting of prostitution. What remained legal was street prostitution, or independent prostitution done by a prostitute in their own home. The law was promoted as an equality measure liberating women, but despite its good intentions to give more rights to prostitutes otherwise dependent on pimps, it was, and still remains to this day, a subject of intense debate. Among other points, the text of the law specifically refers to women (donne).