Between 2014 and 2023, the annual number of crimes committed in the country decreased. In 2014, the number of crimes reported by the police to the judicial authority amounted to 2.8 million, whereas in 2023, this figure decreased to 2.34 million. Crime in Italy In 2023, the most common crime in Italy was theft. The police reported about one million delinquencies to the juridical authority. The three regions with the highest number of thefts were Lombardy, Lazio, and Campania. Fiat Panda: the most frequently stolen passenger car in Italy Vehicle theft is another common crime in Italy, which in 2017 about 20 percent of Italians feared. In the year considered, the most frequently stolen passenger cars were the Fiat Panda, Fiat Punto, and Fiat Cinquecento.

In 2023, the metropolitan city of Milan ranked first in terms of crime rate, as it recorded 7,100 felonies per 100,000 inhabitants. Furthermore, the provinces of Rome and Florence followed with around 6,000 cases reported. In Milan, burglaries in shops and thefts were much more common than in any other Italian provinces. Frequent car thefts The Southern province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, in the region of Apulia, was the place in Italy with the highest rate of stolen cars. Roughly 697 cases per every 100,000 residents were registered in 2019. Catania had the second-largest rate with about 656 reports. Nationwide, the three most frequently stolen car models belonged to Fiat, the leading Italian vehicle manufacturer. Moreover, a Lancia car model ranked fourth. This company was also part of the Fiat Group, which, however, only sells vehicles in Italy. Mafia associations  In the last years, the number of mafia associations in Italy experienced a decline. However, there are still dozens of mafia-type organizations in the country. The Southern region of Campania was the place faced with the largest amount of crime associations. In total, 67 of such crimes were reported in Campania in 2019.

As of 2023, Lombardy was the Italian region with the highest number of crime records. That year, this region registered almost 457,000 reports. Lombardy is also the largest region in terms of population, with ten million inhabitants. Lazio, where Rome is located, followed with 303,000 cases.

In 2020, crimes related to drugs and psychotropic substances were the leading cause of imprisonment for both Italian citizens and foreign countries' citizens. About 12.3 thousand Italian citizens and 6.5 thousand foreign citizens were charged with drugs and psychotropic substances' crimes.

In 2020, the Italian regions with the highest number of violent crimes were Lombardy, Campania, and Lazio. They were, however, also Italy's most populous regions. That year, there were 19 thousand records of violent crimes in the Northern region of Lombardy. Campania, in the South, had the second-most violent crimes at 13.9 thousand, while Lazio counted 11 thousand reports. Violent crime sub-categories include homicide, murder, assault, manslaughter, sexual assault, rape, robbery, negligence, endangerment, and kidnapping. Data was provided by Mine Crime, an Italian company which collects data on criminality in Italy.

The most recent report of the Italian Ministry of the Interior reveals that between January 2023 and July 2024, 499 homicides were committed in Italy. The number of homicides has recorded a decreasing trend since 2011. Overall, about 2.3 million criminal acts were reported in Italy in 2023. Femicide Femicide, a homicide in which a woman is killed for gender-based reasons, poses a serious problem around the world. In 2018, roughly one in six Italians believed that femicide was on the rise. Women, victims of homicide, are often related to the culprit; in 2022, 74 women in Italy were killed by their partner. Crime in Italy In 2023, the most common crime in Italy was theft. Law enforcement corps reported one million cases of this delinquency to the juridical authority, with the highest theft rate in the Metropolitan city of Milan.

The Italian police recorded over 1,100 hate crimes in 2023. 264 were classified as incitement to violence, which was the most common hate crime that occurred in Italy. Further 165 hate crimes were the desecration of graves. The cases recorded were hate crimes having ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, anti-Semitism as bias-motivation, as well as bias against Roma and Sinti, and people with disabilities. Targeted groups of hate crimes   Most of the known hate crimes were related to racism and xenophobia. In 2020, more than 800 reports concerned this bias. Among these crimes, the most frequent ones were incitement to violence, desecration of graves, physical assaults, and threats. People with disabilities were the second most targeted group. Opinion on measures against this growing hate   In the last years, the number of hates crimes in Italy rose. However, in a survey conducted in 2019, most of the Italians believed that the measures adopted against discrimination were effective. In October 2019, the Italian Senate voted in favor of the establishment of a special committee to combat racial hate. A survey about this Extraordinary Commission show that a large part of Italian interviewees was in favor of its establishment. The Commission was proposed by the Senator Liliana Segre, Holocaust survivor. In fact, the committee was also named “Segre Commission”.

In 2018, the largest number of mafia crimes were registered in the Italian region of Calabria. In this region located in the South of the country, 896 criminal reports were recorded in that year. Other three Italy's southern regions followed in the ranking: Sicily, Campania, and Apulia.

In 1991, an investigation body was founded in Italy with the aim to enhance the fight against mafia, the Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate (Direzione Investigativa Antimafia or DIA).

As of June 2024, 35,000 prisoners were incarcerated for property crime, the most common crime charged. Moreover, 27,000 individuals were convicted of crime against the person, whereas 12,000 inmates committed drug-related crimes. As of October 2024, the number of prisoners in Italy was 62,110. Data related to the age of prisoners show that individuals aged between 50 and 59 years constituted the largest group of incarcerated population in Italy.

Crimes that involve racism and xenophobia were far from uncommon in Italy. In 2022, 1,105 crimes were perpetrated for racist and xenophobic reasons. With around 280 cases, most of these crimes were classified as incitement to violence. However, many other forms of crimes were also filed. During that year, 216 threats and almost 180 peace disturbance actions were notably perpetrated under racist or xenophobic pretenses. Hate crimes in Italy From a larger perspective, racist and xenophobic crimes fall under the hate crime classification. Such crimes were on the rise in Italy. In 2020 over a thousand hate crimes were notably registered by the police. As for racist and xenophobic crimes, the most common type of hate crime was incitement to violence. In 2020, over 300 cases of incitement to violence were filed by the Italian police. Different motivations behind hate crimes In 2020, most hate crimes were motivated by one’s skin color or origin. However, crimes under the bias of disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity are also classified as hate crimes. In 2020, almost 200 crimes against disabled people were registered by the police. The most common type of criminal acts directed at this minority was physical assault, followed by theft and robbery. During that year, 71 hate crimes were committed because of one’s sexual orientation or gender identity. However, hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community in Italy most frequently involved physical assault. Ultimately, although such criminal figures solely represent reported crimes, an increase in reported hate crimes is undeniable.

In 2019, juvenile criminality in Italy concerned mostly thefts and robbery. About 62 percent of all crimes committed by children and young adults that year were thefts and robbery. In addition, 21 percent regarded drug dealing.

Between 2014 and 2023, the number of hate crimes recorded by the police in Italy increased. However, as of 2023, 1,106 hate crimes were reported by the Italian police, 287 cases less compared to 2022. Data refer to the number of criminal offenses and include cases of hate speech and discrimination.

In the first half of 2018, about 1.3 individuals aged 40 to 65 years were reported or arrested for mafia crimes in Italy. Additionally, in the same period of time, over one thousand people between 18 and 40 years old were reported or arrested.

In 2019, roughly 20 percent of Italian respondents believed that the social discomfort was the main cause of crime in Italy. The second most common cause indicated by respondents was the lack of severe punishment as well as the easy releases. Furthermore, 11.4 percent of interviewees stated that the excessive presence of immigrants caused criminality in Italy.

In 2019, the highest number of burglaries was reported in Tuscany, where roughly 16.4 every 1,000 families were affected by robberies in their dwelling. Umbria and Emilia-Romagna followed, with 14.8 and 14.7 cases per 1,000 households, respectively. On the contrary, Basilicata and Aosta Valley had the lowest number of households affected by burglary.

Over the last four years, the sense of safety in their own city has increased in Italy. In 2021, 48 percent of Italian respondents believed that criminality experienced an increase in the last years. In 2007, the percentage of people stating the same was considerably higher (66 percent).

In 2022, the Italian police reported around 2.26 million felonies to the judicial authority. The most common crime were thefts, constituting about 20 percent of the total reports. Cyber frauds and damages followed, with around 270,000 recorded cases.

According to data, during the selected period the Italian police seized assets which were worth about 1.9 billion euros. Moreover, the value of assets confiscated between 2020 and 2021 amounted to 1.7 billion euros.

Further data about criminality show that mafia-type organized crime was among the most frequent crimes with which prisoners in Italy were charged.

In 2023, Milan recorded the highest theft rate in Italy, with almost 4,000 felonies per 100,000 inhabitants. Rome and Rimini followed, with around 3,500 and 3,200 thefts per 100,000 residents, respectively.

Between 2018 and 2023, the crime rate in the municipality of Venice stabilized around 7,000 reported felonies per 100,000 inhabitants. The index had a marked decrease during the COVID-19 outbreak due to the restrictive measures enacted to limit the expansion of the disease. After the pandemic, the rate surged to pre-COVID-19 levels. This trend is consistent with the total number of crimes reported by the police forces in the metropolitan city of Venice. In fact, recorded felonies had a significant drop in 2020, but after three years they increased up to the 2018 level. Among the biggest Italian municipalities, Venice ranks fourth in crime rate, ahead of Florence, Milan, and Turin.