Thought you'd find the article below interesting, since hard figures on crime 
and Italians are so hard to come by. Three facts jumped out at me:
 
1) Rome had only 39 homicides in 2001. Compared to any major American city 
that is infinitesimal. 
2) That "Of 103 Italian provincial towns, in 41 nobody has ever lost a life 
at the hands of another." Are there 41 American provincial towns that can 
make that boast? 
I doubt it. And 
3) That Naples and Palermo have less crime per capita than Rome, Bologna, 
Rimini and Genoa. I wonder how northern supremacists would explain that. 
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HOW SAFE ARE ITALIAN CITIES? 

>From the most dangerous to the most liveable, here are rankings of some
communities at risk of crime 

By Francesca Procesi 
(Translation by Kia Ora) 

In the extreme north and extreme south of Italy there are two paradises of
tranquillity. Sondrio and Agrigento beat all other communities in Italy for
the safety and serenity that envelops their streets. From data supplied by
the Central Directory of Criminal Police regarding five crimes considered
most serious by Italians - homicide, purse snatching, pickpocketing, home
theft, and robbery, it emerges that these two small and many other cities do
not realize even 5% of the crime that occurs in Rome every year, the crime
capital of the country. 

It is calculated that in the Eternal City for every 100,000 inhabitants
there occur 1,227 crimes, of which in 2001 alone, 39 homicides, 32,671 purse
snatchings and pickpocketings, 10,875 thefts in private dwellings. and 3,888
robberies of which 208 were banks. Alarming figures if you consider that all
trends point towards increases compared to past years. 

Following Rome in the rankings of most dangerous cities are Bologna, Rimini,
and Genoa, all communities in which the number of crimes for every 100
inhabitants exceeds their per-thousand quota. Lower in the rankings we find
with astonishment other large cities - Torino and Milan for example - or
cities, like Palermo and Naples, with the same dangerous reputations they
have always had. 

It is certainly true that the data do not reflect the criminal legacy of
organized crime and the relative climate of intimidation that often affects
the number of reported crimes. And in fact, allowing reference to just
homicides it emerges straightaway that the most dangerous cities, with the
most evident increases in crime, are Reggio Calabria, Catania, Siracusa, and
Messina. All cities of the south, unless you throw in the 21 assassinations
in Milan and eleven in Turin. 

Of 103 Italian provincial towns, in 41 nobody has ever lost a life at the
hands of another. In far fewer communities has not even a purse snatching
taken place - only Sondrio Campobasso, Isernia - and only in ultra secure
Sondrio are robberies unheard of. 

No communities are spared from pickpockets and thieves in search of jewelry
or money in private dwellings. Banks can be calmer, for a limited number of
cities have never received visits by armed robbers. 

How should the forces of order react against those who perpetrate crimes?
Milan has adopted a plan that above all emphasizes coordination of all
available forces. But more are involved than national police (carabinieri),
regional police, and traffic wardens. The project "a thousand eyes" has even
recruited street cleaners who, in their motorized street patrols, have
contributed to the clean up of the streets, and with no pun intended, the
Columns of San Lorenzo - central residential quarters - besieged by drug
pushers. 

In Naples they have aimed instead at installing new lighting to give back
the night to its citizens in zones running from the Piazza del Plebiscito to
the Pizza Trieste and Piazza Trento, to the Via Toledo. The Catanese police
headquarters, instead, have engaged 40 Condors, city police on large
motorcycles, and have been successful in reducing microcrime that took aim
at 50% of tourists. 

Many other cities are playing the apparently winning card of electronic
vigilance. Impressive investments fitting the streets with television
cameras were made in Modena, Asti, Macerata, and Pescara. All on the wake of
the successes recorded at Telgale, the first community with
tele-surveillance in Italy where, thanks to artificial eyes, crime fell by
40%.