About the life of Francesca Viola, a woman who survived abduction, violence and changed the history of the country

The Sicilian Mafia has always been considered the most brutal and "immortal" criminal group in the world. It is not surprising that in this community there were strict rules and traditions that all its members had to adhere to without exception.

As a result, even innocent people suffered from these "laws". The story of Francesca Viola, who decided to break the omerta in Sicily, is just about that.

Francesca Viola was born in the town of Alcamo in a family of simple farmers who lived off the profits from the vineyards. It is easy to guess that the family was categorically short of money, so when the girl turned 15, her parents happily agreed to marry her to the youngest son of the local mafia Don Melody — Filippo.

But the young people did not have time to get a taste of family life — a week after the engagement, Filippo got into a dirty mess. The guy was accused of theft and ties with the mafia, so in order to escape from justice, Francesca's future husband had to flee the country.

A year has passed. Filippo never came back. Then the girl's father decided to terminate the contract between him and Don Melody, and the girl was freed from the fate of becoming the wife of a bandit. A year later, Francesca was supposed to marry another guy who had nothing to do with crime, but something unexpected happened — information was received that Filippo Melody had been seen in the country.

The criminal was soon arrested, but he did not have to spend many years behind bars. Soon Filippo was free and the first thing he did was go to the house to his "beloved". When he found out that his fiancee had already been promised to another, he was really angry. The offended mafia decided to return Francesca to himself at all costs, even if it means doing terrible things.…

At first everything was peaceful: Filippo turned to the girl's parents, to Francesca herself and asked them to change their minds. But when he was faced with a categorical refusal, threats and harassment came into play. It got to the point that one day the mafia's son and his criminal friends broke into the farmers' house and simply kidnapped their daughter, taking her to an unknown destination.

As it turned out later, the young people took Francesca to a country house where Melody's sister lived with her husband. For eight days together they beat and raped the girl, thus forcing her to agree to marry Filippo. Otherwise, the mafiosi assured her, she would remain "disgraced" for the rest of her life and give her family a bad name.

Indeed, at that time, Sicilian laws did not provide for punishment for the rape of a woman. On the contrary, the victim herself was considered guilty of having sexual intercourse before marriage, and was called donna svergognata — dishonest, shameless.

In order to somehow escape from captivity, Francesca agreed to a "marriage proposal", but after being released, she shocked the public with her unexpected statement. The girl was not only not going to marry a mafia, but also promised to bring this case to court, risking her own reputation and the good name of her family. And this is taking into account the fact that at that time rape was not considered a crime against the individual, only against "public morality".

Nevertheless, Francesca did write a statement to the police and sued her abusers. While the proceedings were going on, the girl and her parents were repeatedly threatened, and once someone even set fire to their only source of income - a vineyard.

The local press found out about the difficult situation in Alcamo and eventually this matter reached the parliament itself! The groom's lawyers assured the court that the girl herself dreamed of marrying a mafia and there was no violence. But, despite all their attempts to defend the "honor" of the defendant, a guilty verdict was passed against Filippo Melody.

The "groom"-rapist was imprisoned for 10 years, and Francesca soon after the trial married another man — no one Giuseppe Ruisi. Giuseppe did not hide that he was insanely afraid of Filippo and his friends and was waiting with fear for the day when the mafioso would be released from prison. But at the same time , Francesca 's husband said: "It's better to live 10 years with you than a lifetime with another woman."

In 1976, that very day came. Filippo was released, but he no longer approached the family of his former lover. Two years later, he was fatally wounded during a shootout. Only then did Francesca finally feel safe.

The story of Francesca Viola stirred up the whole of Italy and noticeably influenced the abolition of medieval Sicilian traditions. Now, even in the most remote corner of the island, a girl who has suffered from rape is not forced to marry her abuser, but the man himself is brought to court.

The dramatic story of Franca Viola formed the basis of the plot of Damiano Damiani's film "The Most Beautiful Wife", filmed in 1970 (starring Ornella Muti).

Unfortunately, in Russia you can still find examples that resemble the terrible tradition of the Sicilian mafia. Women are accused of provoking violence by their own behavior or defiant appearance. On this occasion, the network even launched a flash mob #samaNEvinovata, in which hundreds of girls openly told about their own experience of violence and how they managed to survive it.