ABSTRACT
Italy’s approach to homosexuality has tended to be one of silence in law, repression in prac-
tice. The first penal code of the unified Italian state appeared in 1998. It eliminated refer-
ences to homosexual relations between consenting adults in private. Only homosexual
behavior that offended public morality was criminalized. This approach corresponded to that
of the Catholic church, for which sodomy was considered an unmentionable sin but was tolerated
in practice. During the Fascist period, homosexuality was not mentioned in the penal code. At the
same time the police applied forms of repression ranging from beatings to internment.