Number of prostitutes:

60,000

Of which migrant:

40,000

De Jure

Prostitution:

Prostitution itself is legal. Streetwalking, operating or working in a brothel and promoting prostitution are illegal.

Trafficking:

Has recently become a criminal offence carrying a 14 year sentence.

De Facto

On-street prostitution is widespread and many women on the streets are from eastern Europe and West Africa, also many small brothels exist employing only one or two women.

Children aged from 5 to 14 have been found prostituted in Sicily. They were controlled by an organised sex ring and abused in the process of producing pornographic videotapes. About 10% of prostitution in northern Italy involves girls aged between 10 and 15 years, and 30% girls aged between 16 and 18

According to IOM, 75-80% of 'trafficked women' are street prostitutes, because in Italy, unlike some other EU countries such as Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands, there are relatively few 'sex bars'.

According to the Helsinki Committee, one-third of all prostitutes in Italy are Albanian. The women either arrive in Italy legally, for example with tourist or entertainment visas, or are smuggled across the Adriatic.

Though the law now offers them protection, trafficked women are often regarded by the authorities as offenders rather than victims.