1522 rings incessantly, the national anti-violence and anti-stalking number promoted in 2006 by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers-Department for Equal Opportunities, managed since 2020 by Differenza Donna, an association with operational headquarters in an apartment in Rome confiscated from crime.
After recent news events, or in awareness days such as November 25, the phone rings even more. To explain it, in an in-depth video on ANSA.it, is Maria Spiotta, head of the number 1522.
This is how 1522 works, the national anti-violence and anti-stalking number
Between calls and chat messages, the 1522 reaches an average of 150 contacts per day. They come from all over Italy, there is no territorial or social distinction and the victims of violence have the most varied ages and situations. Women who suffer violence or stalking are the ones who call in person; But often they are family members, neighbors alarmed by quarrels, friends and colleagues, teachers and educators who need to understand how to behave, even health and law enforcement workers. In some cases, children who assist or are victims of domestic violence who contact 1522, as for Telefono Azzurro.
The number is free, active 24 hours a day, all year round.
To answer, in 11 languages, there are specialized operators, cultural mediators, lawyers, even an expert on disabilities, because violence affects everyone, with a huge underground, but it ruthlessly affects the weakest groups. Calls protect privacy, take place anonymously and are not recorded. You do not respond with a fixed protocol but every woman is advised for what is her situation.
"1522 is not only a number for emergencies, which often happen to us, but also a place of listening where women are believed," explains Spiotta. The goal is first of all to welcome women, to bring out in them the awareness that what they tell is often not just a quarrel. Because sometimes it is also difficult to give a name to violence, which can take on different aspects: physical, sexual, psychological, economic, digital violence.
Often the call to 1522 is the first step with which the woman asks for help. So the job of the operators, in the time of a phone call, is to establish a bond, support and often direct to the nearby anti-violence centers. Never as in this case a phone call can change a destiny.
