Abstract

The article describes how the legal framework of the repression by state authorities of Gypsies' mendicancy has evolved in Italy. After a presentation of the relevant provisions of the different criminal codes on the background of the policy views expressed in legal literature, special attention is paid to the case law of the Constitutional Court which has reduced the scope of repression before the very recent abrogation of art. 670 of the current criminal code. The last section is devoted to problems relating to the provisions still in force which sanction the use of children in mendicancy.