Protests and vigils in Italy over violent death of 22-year-old Giulia Cecchettin

In the past week, the smiling face of Giulia Cecchettin has been almost constantly in the news.  

The 22-year-old engineering student from Veneto disappeared with her ex-boyfriend, 22-year-old Filippo Turetta on 11 November.

On Saturday, Cecchettin's body was found at the bottom of a ravine with at least 20 stab wounds to the neck and head, her body covered with some black bags. 

The discovery was made after a video emerged where Turetta could be seen beating Cecchettin, and authorities suspect he murdered his former partner before fleeing the country. 

On Sunday, Turetta was arrested near Leipzig in Germany, nearly 1,000 km away from the scene of the crime, where he had escaped with his car.

While there was an international arrest warrant against him, the 22-year-old was only caught thanks to a German driver who called the police after seeing that Turetta was parked on the highway with his lights off - without even knowing he was being sought for murder. 

According to Italian newspapers, he had no more money to pay for gas.

Turetta is currently being detained in Germany but is expected to be extradited to Italy, where he is expected to face trial for voluntary homicide.

The case has sparked widespread anger in Italy, where the murder of Cecchettin is being called a “femicide” despite the fact that the country does not legally recognise the murder of a woman because of her gender as a separate crime.

According to data from Italy’s Interior Ministry, Cecchettin is the 102th femicide victim in the country since the beginning of the year. Some 52 of these women were killed by a partner or former partner.

Cecchettin’s sister, Elena Cecchettin, has talked to the public and the media linking the murder of Giulia to a patriarchal culture