Italian teens spark nationwide unrest amid soaring living costs and school crises

A wave of protests has swept Italy this autumn, uniting students, low-income families and teenage looters in cities from Milan to Naples. In Milan, crowds of hooded youths descended on the Duomo square, looting stores such as Decathlon, Nike and Levi’s, and clashing with police while broadcasting the chaos online. The movement is anchored by the Instagram-born network Italiainpiazza17, which claims a non-partisan stance but also draws extremist figures like Andrea Ballarati.

Student groups, notably the Rete degli Studenti Medi, are occupying schools and demanding reforms to crumbling education facilities, soaring textbook prices and unaffordable housing. Simultaneously, lorry drivers protest fuel costs, causing supply shortages that echo France’s Yellow Vest protests. The mixture of legitimate social-economic demands with violence for its own sake makes the protests difficult to interpret, raising concerns about infiltration by organized provocateurs.