Acid Attacks Against Women on the Rise in Italy

“They use acid because it takes just a tiny dose to corrode and ruin someone’s life. Acid removes the shape of her face. It is a way to cancel her out.”, May 31, 2014, Italy Europe, THE GUARDIAN

1)When Vania Del Col, 31, opened her door to her Vicenza apartment last Thursday, she found two hooded men waiting for her. They forced their way into her home and pushed her to the floor. Then they poured acid from a glass bottle on her, severely burning her arms and buttocks. The assailants also threw acid on a dog in the adjacent yard. Del Col had survived a brutal rape by an ex-boyfriend in 2002 and the man, who served just under four years for that attack, is the primary suspect, though his whereabouts are unknown. In the week before the attack, Del Col’s husband said his wife found four notes in letterbox that said, “You are going to die,” and “Be careful, we know what you are doing.”

2)As horrific as Del Col’s attack might be, the greater tragedy is that it is the third such acid attack against women in Italy in the last month. Two weeks ago, a 36-year-old woman, eight weeks pregnant with twins, was standing in the parking lot of the local health clinic near Milan, ready for her regular prenatal checkup when a masked man drove up on a scooter and threw battery acid in her face. Her twins survived the trauma, but the woman, whose name is listed in police reports as Samanta F., may lose vision in her left eye. The assailant is described as a robust man between 50 and 60 years old, but he has not been found. Neither Samanta nor her fiancé report having been threatened or having any enemies. “For now we don’t know why anyone would do this,” says Luigi Orsi, the investigating magistrate leading the investigation.

3)On April 16, three men forced their way into the Pesaro apartment owned by Lucia Annibali, 35, who works as a lawyer. The men threw acid on her face, blinding her and destroying one of her eyes, and completely disfiguring her face. The men were arrested after a neighbor heard her screams and chased after them. A week later, her ex-boyfriend, Luca Varani, who is also a lawyer, was then arrested for allegedly ordering the attack. He had a wound on his hand that investigators say is consistent with an acid burn, although he maintains that he burned himself with hot coffee.