Policy Paper

In the spring of 2026, Italy faced an unprecedented series of school attacks and investigations into alleged plots targeting schools, involving minors aged 12 to 17. This study examines four key cases from different regions between March and May 2026, along with a significant precursor from February 2025. All these incidents fall within the broader framework of nihilistic violent extremism (NVE), the True Crime Community (TCC), and adjacent performative violence subcultures. The paper argues these cases should neither be classified as conventional ideological terrorism nor dismissed as simple adolescent deviance. Instead, they represent Italy’s first visible sequence of NVE-related incidents, with three of the 2026 episodes suggesting a domestic mimetic chain spanning mere weeks. The Italian experience highlights the challenges posed by such phenomena for counterterrorism and stresses the need for a cohesive framework for prevention.

During the brief period of 65 days between cases in spring 2026, Italy was confronted with an alarming pattern of attacks and plans linked to NVE—the nation’s first encounter with this specific form of extremism. This cluster of incidents presents ongoing challenges for security practices as well as societal peace.

The precursor case of February 2025, involving the arrest of a youth in Bolzano tied to the transnational ‘764’ network, serves as a critical reminder that the seeds of NVE are both deeply rooted and global in character. Later cases in Trescore Balneario, Perugia, Arezzo, and San Vito Lo Capo substantiate a young demographic exploiting digital subcultures and engaging in performative violence tightly connected to specific online environments.

The report discusses legal and social limitations for addressing such threats, particularly the complexities surrounding age-related exemptions in Italy. As minors under 14 years old cannot be prosecuted, radicalized youths at alarming levels of violence pose institutional disconnects between the seriousness of their intentions or acts and available countermeasures. Furthermore, minors often exploit these legal loopholes intentionally, highlighting the urgency for reform.

The findings demonstrate a deep need for Italy to develop a comprehensive national strategy for preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE). Addressing NVE requires bridging the gaps between law enforcement, education, family systems, social services, mental health interventions, and international collaboration. Without decisive policy action, the risk of this transnational and self-sustaining cycle of mimetic violence expanding globally remains high.

???? The report was fully and exclusively transferred and translated by the Studies Department at AboMatrix

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