Even if the first statistics for 2025 represent a more relaxed reality than in the past, with crimes that the police force define as “predatory” in decline, the street has another voice. From underpasses, car parks, stations and the outskirts of large Italian cities, the voice of those who have been stabbed or seen Maranza in action at close range gives a completely different perception of safety.
Milan is the most useful metropolis for understanding the paradox. Three stabbings occurred on the night between Saturday and Sunday alone. In Viale Luigi Camoens, a stone’s throw from the Triennale, two boys (an eighteen-year-old Italian and a seventeen-year-old Egyptian) were attacked by a pack of North Africans who had annoyed passers-by shortly before. The Italian was hit by a blow to the ear and a stab wound to the stomach (he was transported under code red to the Niguarda hospital and underwent emergency surgery). The Egyptian was wounded in the head and taken to Fatebenefratelli. The other two cases: in via Vizzola (Bicocca area), two other boys (19 and 21 years old), both Colombians, suffered stab wounds during a fight; in Piazza Costantino two other men (a 28-year-old Algerian and a 34-year-old Belgian) were rescued after an attack with a knife.
Six victims in one night. And it’s not an exception. The dynamic is always the same: group approaching, encirclement, threat, use of knives or improvised weapons, rapid disappearance. A method implemented not only for settling accounts. The Milanese news of mid-2025 are full of serial robberies in the areas of Certosa, Romolo and Viale Testi: “guns and brass knuckles”, groups of six or eight people. They are looking for the smartphone, the chain, the small loot which, however, has a double value: money and neighborhood prestige.
The country is a supermarket for snatchers and robbers. Reports of robbery amount to 28,631, of which 16,510 in public streets. Thefts remain the most widespread crime: 1,052,935 in 12 months. And among these, 13,474 are thefts with snatching (snatching) and 140,690 with dexterity. With an epicenter: Rome, a city that lives like an urban Far West. Here there are 3,420 robberies, 2,014 in public streets: every day, on average, five people are attacked on the street. The thefts? 155,424: 1,835 were muggings, 33,455 were pickpocketing. The most sensational cases: on 1 June, in front of the Lucio Sestio metro, a nineteen-year-old was stabbed in the chest by a group of peers for no apparent reason. On April 17, at Villa Gordiani, three brothers born in Rome to Bosnian parents attacked two boys armed with pickaxes and knives, shouting “get out of the restaurant, we’ll kill you”. On February 3, in Ponte Testaccio, a fifteen-year-old was shot in the abdomen during an attempted robbery. The day before, in Monteverde, a sixteen-year-old ends up in hospital under code red after another knife robbery.
The latest dossier produced by Censis and the Union of Surveillance and Security Services Companies admits: “38.1% of Italians have given up going out at least once for fear of something dangerous happening to them.” 52.1% of this category is between 18 and 34 years old. The figure drops between 35 and 64 years old to 38.4% and to 27.4 for those aged 65 and over. And in fact it is among young people that the most sensational attacks occur.
Turin is not immune. In 2025 the Mirafiori neighborhood has transformed into a thermometer of the problem: fights between dozens of kids, a seventeen-year-old stabbed in the abdomen. The local press speaks of “daily episodes” and of a city that sees the spread of the nightmare of baby robbers, often fleeing on scooters. Attacks also occur in broad daylight. Only a week ago in Piazza San Carlo a baby gang attacked a boy in the center. On September 15th, a huge brawl at the Montanaro Gardens with bars and shards of bottles. On August 5th at the Barriera in Milan a twenty-three year old ended up stabbed after an argument. On May 7th at Parco Regio two gangs of minors face each other with knives, clubs and a pit bull, a seventeen year old is injured.
Bologna is also affected by the phenomenon: in the first four months of the year 102 minors were stopped and 28 arrested, of which 12 for robbery. On August 8, near the Casalecchio di Reno station, a fifteen-year-old was surrounded and beaten by a group of young Egyptians for a silver necklace. One of the attackers had a switchblade. On January 17, in the same area, a twenty-two year old was attacked in an underpass and beaten by three hooded boys.
Florence is no exception. The bloodiest cases appear in the local news. Last October 2nd in Novoli, in the Medaglie d’Oro gardens, a huge brawl between two groups of very young people ended in blood. Knives and broken bottles, unheard of violence before the eyes of children. A boy ends up in hospital. Not even a month earlier, in Via di Ripoli four minors were reported for attempted robbery and injury. They had surrounded a man on the street trying to take away his backpack. 6 September, viale Spartaco Lavagnini, double episode on the same day: a thirty-six year old is beaten up by a baby gang; shortly afterwards a fourteen-year-old was injured by his peers with a glass-breaking hammer and a blade at the tram stop. On 17 June, in Via Verdi, a fight between two groups of boys turns into an attempted murder. A seventeen-year-old, guest of a reception centre, is arrested after hitting a peer with four blows.
And then there is Naples. The news reported by local newspapers forms an impressive list. The last four cases are close together. Last September 25th, in Piazza Carlo III, just before midnight, yet another stabbing occurred during a fight between baby gangs. A 22-year-old boy is injured with several blows. 20 September, via Piscicelli (historic center of Chiaia): a nineteen-year-old is stabbed in the arm and abdomen by a sixteen-year-old out of revenge. On September 7, on the Caracciolo seafront, a gang of 20 young people between the ages of 16 and 25 surrounded a sixteen-year-old and his father. The boy is stabbed in the right leg.
By a strange twist of statistics, the cities where the Maranza go to the gym are all administered by the centre-left. Six out of six. A perfect record. Marked by the same watchwords: inclusion, participation, urban regeneration. Coincidentally, in the same neighborhoods where people cut with knives at night.
