Italy

The governance of prostitution in Italy's modern history and present times has seen the institution of two prostitution policy regimes. The first was introduced in 1860, with the implementation of a system of regulated prostitution. In Italy, most of the estimated data on outdoor and indoor prostitution are produced by NGOs and institutions operating in harm reduction and antitrafficking projects. Italy has one of the oldest sex workers' organizations in Europe: the Committee for Civil Rights of Prostitutes. The Committee was created in 1982 in a northern Italian city by two Italian street workers, Carla Corso and Pia Covre, who were to become crucial actors in the Italian debate on prostitution. As Danna wrote over ten years ago, in Italy the regulation of prostitution at the national level appears to be stuck in "never ending debates" which bring no resolution and are mostly informed by simplistic and fallacious understandings of this complex phenomenon.