ROME (LifeSiteNews) — For generations, Italy has been one of the most beloved destinations for North American travelers. Its churches, shrines, art, cuisine, and cultural heritage continue to attract millions of visitors every year.
Yet anyone planning a trip to Italy in the summer of 2026 should be aware of a growing public-security problem that Italian authorities, journalists, and ordinary citizens increasingly acknowledge.
Particularly for women traveling alone, families with children, and pilgrims unfamiliar with local conditions, prudence is becoming more necessary than it once was.
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According to Il Sole 24 Ore, in 2024, 34.7 percent of all people reported, stopped, or arrested in Italy were foreign nationals, with the proportion rising above 60 percent for predatory crimes such as thefts, muggings, and robberies. The number of foreign suspects has increased by 8.1 percent compared to 2019, before the COVID crisis.
Irregular migrants – considered to include illegal immigrants as well as those seeking asylum who make up 5.6 percent of all foreigners in Italy – are described as having a disproportionately high impact on crime, a pattern consistent with earlier research showing that 70 percent of crimes committed by immigrants between 1988 and 2009 were attributed to irregular migrants.
Foreign nationals account for 52.3 percent of all robberies, with peaks of 60.1 percent for street robberies, 61 percent for snatch‑thefts, and 69 percent for pickpocketing.
The rate of “maranza”-related crimes is increasing too. The urban slang term “maranza” refers to groups of mostly foreign and very young males – typically teenagers – who adopt a deliberately aggressive style and engage in antisocial or intimidating behavior in public spaces. They are often associated with petty vandalism, harassment, confrontational attitudes, and, in worst cases, rapes, violence, and theft.
According to the 2026 Eurispes report on youth crime in Italy, which analyzes police and Interior Ministry data on minors aged 14–17 and young adults aged 18–24, foreign minors are described as “disproportionately represented in criminal activity,” with over half of all arrests and reports in the 14–17 age group involving foreign nationals despite representing only about 10 percent of Italy’s population.
In many Italian metropolitan areas the presence of “maranza” has become a frequent and visible phenomenon, particularly in parks, public transport hubs, and shopping districts, where their behavior is often perceived as disruptive or unsettling by residents.
Disturbing episodes of violence occur in public places and in broad daylight. Travelers should pay particular attention to the following cities, which have frequently appeared in discussions of urban crime and security concerns: Milan, Bologna, Rimini, Prato, Florence, Turin, Rome, Imperia, Livorno, and Genoa.
Italian media now report, almost daily, even brutal crimes committed by immigrants – including those with legal status. On June 19, in a playground in Brescia, two children were attacked in a public park by a 29‑year‑old Nigerian man, legally residing in Italy. The man suddenly grabbed both minors by the neck: one of the children, a 10-year-old boy, managed to break free and run away, while a younger 3-year-old child was subjected to an attempted strangulation.
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On June 20, in Padua, a young female student was beaten by a group of North African men after asking them to stop arguing in front of her garage. The “story of ordinary violence,” as the local newspaper reporting the incident described it, took place around 8 p.m. in Piazza De Gasperi, a central area of Padua, located just a few minutes’ walk from the train station.
During the same day, in Milan, a 21‑year‑old Sri Lankan man was arrested for harassing a young woman jogging along the Naviglio Pavese canal. Riding a bicycle, he approached her and slapped her on the buttocks, provoking outrage among bystanders who rushed to protect the woman.
On June 6, Polish model Anna Aksamit was assaulted in broad daylight in central Milan by a group of six to eight young men who followed her, surrounded her, sexually harassed her, and repeatedly struck her while she was walking to a supermarket near her home. The attack ended only when a passerby intervened after hearing her screams, confronting the group alone, and driving them away – a gesture Aksamit described as heroic and life‑saving.