Franca Viola’s story (re)told on paper and screen: challenging patriarchy and mafia culture

In 1965, Franca Viola said ‘no’ to a reparatory marriage. Her decision to take her mafioso rapist to court had important consequences for Italian legal history and Italian women’s history, leading to the abolition, in 1981, of article 544 of the penal code which extinguished the crime of sexual violence with the matrimonio riparatore . Her case has inspired numerous books, plays and films over the years, which have exploited its potential for imaginative reworkings. This article examines prose and cinematic adaptations of Viola’s story, with a focus on prose works that straddle fact and fiction by Beatrice Monroy, Natalie Galli, Daniela Palumbo, Katja Centomo and Viola Ardone, and on films by Damiano Damiani and Marta Savina. This comparative analysis reveals significant intersections between patriarchal culture and mafia culture, both subjugating women through violence, and highlights interesting parallels between Viola’s case and the phenomenon of mafia women turned state witnesses. These cultural productions demonstrate the enduring legacy of Viola’s courageous choice in their direct or indirect pleas to their readers and spectators, especially new generations, to challenge mafia, patriarchy, and their culture of misogynistic violence in today’s Italy.