On 6 November 1926, Italy’s Fascist regime promulgated a compilation of public security legislation [Testo unico delle leggi di pubblica sicurezza, TULPS] that increased the power of the police to carry out repressive operations and established a comprehensive system of surveillance against any political or social dissent.1Royal Decree No. 1848 of 6 November 1926. The code was later revised to bring it into line with the new Penal Code and the new Code of Criminal Procedure and was enacted by Royal Decree on 18 June 1931.2Royal Decree No. 773 of 18 June 1931.
Without a Court Order
The TULPS provided for various measures, including the establishment of the ‘Special Court for the Defence of the State’ and police banishment [confino di polizia]. The latter consisted of forcing the individual concerned to stay in a remote village on the mainland or, if they were considered ‘particularly dangerous’, to live in an exile colony on one of the smaller Italian islands. In either case, a series of prohibitions and obligations had to be observed, making the stay a kind of incarceration in a prison without walls.
This was a preventive police measure that authorised arrest and detention without a court order, based solely on a decision by the Provincial Banishment Commission [Commissione provinciale per il confino]. The commission was chaired by a prefect and was composed of an officer of the Volunteer Militia for National Security [Milizia volontaria per la sicurezza nazionale], the royal public prosecutor, the chief of police and the local commander of the Carabinieri. Proceedings could be triggered by a complaint or a report from the Chief of Police or the Carabinieri.
In 1927, a separate office responsible for political banishment was set up within the ‘General and Secret Affairs’ Division [Divisione affari generali e riservati] of the Ministry of the Interior, although responsibility for ordinary banishment imposed on persons convicted of ‘common offences’ or ‘Mafia crimes’ remained with the Police Division [Divisione di Polizia].
Ordinary and political banishments were subject to the same guard regime and the same restrictions on freedom and rights, as the banished were considered a ‘danger’ to public safety. The duration of the sentence could range from one year to five years and it could be renewed if the banished individual ‘showed no sign of repentance’ the nature of his or her offence.
Arbitrary Police Measures
According to the TULPS of 1931, the following were to be sentenced to banishment: 1. persons who had been cautioned; 2. persons of bad repute, i.e. persons who ‘had a reputation among the general public’ for being ‘habitually guilty of a series of offences’; 3. those who ‘were engaged in or had shown the intention of engaging in activities aimed at overthrowing the existing political, economic or social order of the state by force or at combating or obstructing the activities of agents of the state’.
As a result, a large number of essentially arbitrary police measures were imposed, which had a massive impact on Italian society in those years and gave the entire Fascist system of repression a totalitarian character. Not only political opponents were condemned to the ‘confino’, but also homosexuals, prostitutes, women who had had abortions and generally anyone whose behaviour deviated from the regime’s principles. There is no exact overview of the number of people who were affected by banishment.
Sinti and Roma
Banishment was one of the police measures imposed on those Sinti and Roma of the Julian Venetia and Tridentine Venetia who were considered ‘dangerous’ by the chief of police or the prefect. As this was a preventive measure (ante delictum) to protect public safety and no evidence was required, as would be in a court hearing, the scope for discretion in its application was correspondingly wide.
On 17 June 1938, the total number of Roma and Sinti from the Julian and Tridentine Venetia affected by the ‘confino’ measure was 43 adults (22 men and 21 women). The banishment also included 99 family members, mainly minors, making a total of 142 people. Over the following years, the number increased by a few people.
The majority of the Roma and Sinti from the Julian and Tridentine Venetia were banished to Sardinia, and a smaller proportion to Basilicata and Calabria. Because a large number of minors followed their parents into banishment, the financial situation of Sinti and Roma families of was particularly difficult. There is a lack of research on other possible places of banishment for Sinti and Roma.
Living Conditions
In 1938, the banished Sinti and Roma received an allowance of 50 lira per month for accommodation and 5 lira per day for food. The family members living with them received 1 lira per day. This amount proved to be completely insufficient even to cover basic needs, especially when family members also had to be provided for. From August 1942, only the food allowance for the banished was increased to 7 lira per day, otherwise everything else remained unchanged.
Only a few prefects applied to the Ministry of the Interior for additional allowances to alleviate the miserable living conditions of the banished and their families. Provision was made for them to take up work in order to support themselves, but the extreme poverty of the villages to which they were banished made this impossible.
Release only in 1946
With the advance of the Allies, the regime’s political opponents were gradually released; all others had to remain in banishment until a general amnesty was announced on 22 June 1946.3Decreto presidenziale, 22 giugno 1946, n. 4 Amnistia e indulto per reati comuni, politici e militari [Presidential Decree, 22 June 1946, no. 4, Amnesty and remission of punishment for common, political and military crimes], https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:decreto.presidenziale:1946-06-22;4 [accessed: 12/08/2025]. The decree concerned offences committed after the proclamation of the armistice and in the immediate post-war period. This included Roma and Sinti.
As a rule, they did not have a place of residence to which they could return. There are also no studies on the consequences of the banishment for the families. Only the testimony of Rosa Raidich (1911–1981), who was banished to Perdasdefogu in the province of Nuoro in Sardinia, and Licia Porcedda’s biographical essay about her, give some idea of this.
