"In truth, little has changed: they killed women before and they continue to kill them even now." If it weren't for the fact that two close strokes have robbed her of almost all mobility and left only shadows in her eyes, she would probably be seen in the square, in one of the many initiatives organized in recent days. She would tell her story, heavier than the many red benches that have become symbols of an ever-open battle; more concrete than the many conferences stuffed with rhetoric and slogans regularly brought out every November 25th. A story made of courage, resilience and mistreatment - suffered first by her father and then by her husband -, in times when there were no help desks, industry associations and switchboards to ask for help. Thus Emma Pucci, an accordionist now ninety years old, who has twice escaped from the fury of men (the first time when she was a child), becomes a symbol.
The first attack?
"I was a child. Dad used to hit me with his zirogna, on the back of the neck, until I fainted. He said he would kill me like a rabbit, while he pulled me by the hair."
Why did he beat her?
"I loved music, the accordion. Manly things, imagine the scandal for those times. Girls had to think about the house, wash dishes and floors. Dad didn't even want me to keep my hair loose and style it like Alida Valli."
And his mother?
"Mom was quiet in the corner, that's what women did. She never stood up for me, in the end I had to do it myself."
What did he do?
"I ran away from home, it was the only way to save myself. At that time I was in Isili, I reached Cagliari and asked for protection from the nuns, who welcomed me. When my father came to pick me up with the carabinieri they acted as guarantors, given the abuses I was suffering."
Did he forgive her?
"I am a believer, but violence cannot and must not be forgiven. The body heals, but in the soul there remain enormous scars that do not go away."
As an adult she encountered new violence.
"Yes, during a trip I met a young man, a carabiniere, we fell in love and got married. He gave me three wonderful children and also beat me up a lot, maybe he was jealous, I don't know, I never asked him why he did it. I ran away from him too."
With three small children?
"Yes, and I assure you it wasn't easy: we had nothing, I rolled up my sleeves once again, doing even the most humble jobs. They studied and they all settled down."
Have you ever thought that the “problem” was you?
"They always try to blame you. Maybe I was different from other girls, rebellious because I played the accordion even in secret. But violence is never justified."
What has changed in ninety years?
"Not much, unfortunately. You, who are a journalist, know better than me that almost every day they kill a woman. We talk about it more, but it's not enough."
In what sense?
"We need protection, strict laws and someone who actually enforces them. Because with words you can't save women who are victims of violence."
It addresses women...
"They must not accept violence and flee immediately after the first signal. Because no man has the right to decide our life and to hurt us in body and soul."
Emma Pucci's story has become a documentary, at the request of Benito Urgu and thanks to the work of director Viola Ledda. Senator Sabrina Licheri included it among the awareness initiatives against violence against women and on Thursday it was presented in the Senate.