(Alcamo, 9 January 1947)
First Italian woman to have refused the shotgun wedding
Franca Viola was kidnapped, raped and segregated for eight days by Filippo Melodia, with whom she had been engaged. Franca’s father had asked to break off the engagement when Melodia was arrested for theft and belonging to a mafia gang. The father was offered a shotgun marriage which, according to the morality and laws of the time (articles 544 and 530 of the penal code), extinguished the crime of sexual violence, which was considered an outrage against morality and not a crime against the person. Franca’s parents agreed with the police, pretending to consent, and they managed to free Franca by arresting Melodia. Franca Viola refused the shotgun marriage with these words: “I am no one’s property, no one can force me to love a person I don’t respect, honor is lost by those who do certain things, not by those who suffer them.” The Cassation sentenced Melodia and seven accomplices to 5 years and two months each. On 8 March 2014 Franca Viola was awarded the honor of Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic at the Quirinale by the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano with the motivation: “For the courageous gesture of refusal of the shotgun wedding which marked a fundamental stage in the history of women’s emancipation in our country”.
