ROME — Since Vittoria Ferdinandi, Mayor of Perugia, announced in a viral video last week that she intended to sue over online insults and defamatory attacks, the keyboard warriors have, remarkably, turned into harmless lambs. Violent, sexist comments disappeared almost overnight. Too late, though: the lawyers had already saved the screenshots.

Ferdinandi discussed the matter with her counterpart in Florence, Sara Funaro, who had also threatened legal action and experienced much the same reaction. The words “lawsuit” and “potential damages,” it turns out, can work wonders.

But not every woman can afford a lawyer. So, the two mayors decided to join forces and turn their response to the daily barrage of online abuse into a way to help others. Their proposal is to file lawsuits and channel any damages awarded into a fund providing free legal assistance to women who lack the means to pursue their own cases. And why stop at two mayors when Italy has nearly 8,000 municipalities? If they all contributed, the message could be far more powerful.

The idea quickly took shape. On Tuesday, Ferdinandi, one of the Vice Presidents of the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI), where she oversees equal opportunities, sent a letter to mayors and other local officials across the country.

Funaro’s proposal, she wrote, “turns a personal experience into an act of responsibility toward other women.”

It is hard to find a woman in a prominent public role who has not experienced sexist abuse at some point, often delivered from behind an anonymous username and a screen.

“After I announced in a social media video that I would file a lawsuit, women from other fields contacted me, including elected officials who told me: ‘I’ve been facing harassment for 20 years. If you set up a fund to protect other women, I want to contribute,’” Ferdinandi said.

During her two and a half years as Mayor, she added, the comments she repeatedly received were rarely about her administrative decisions. Instead, they targeted her appearance and her gender.

The abuse has often been vicious. “People kept telling me not to pay attention to it. But we cannot accept this. When I meet young women, I think about how the idea that going into politics means being exposed to sexist attacks and threats could discourage them from entering public life.”

In her letter to fellow local officials across the political spectrum, Ferdinandi put it this way: “Responding means defending everyone’s freedom and the quality of our democracy.”

The details of the proposed fund, which would collect any damages awarded and use them to help women who cannot afford legal representation, have yet to be worked out. The two mayors believe a municipal rather than national fund would be preferable, keeping resources within local communities, but the specifics remain open to discussion.

The priority is to bring as many local governments on board as possible, regardless of political affiliation — and, crucially, to involve male mayors as well.

“The contribution of men who govern our communities is essential,” Ferdinandi wrote. “Recognizing sexist violence, opposing it even when it targets a political opponent, and taking responsibility for our words and behavior all help make the institutions we represent more credible.”

The idea, Funaro said, is simple: “Have we ended up in a vicious cycle of insults and sexist attacks? We want to break that cycle and turn it into a virtuous one. By filing lawsuits, we can raise funds to support other women. We want to go viral, too — but for a positive reason.”

Some male colleagues have already expressed interest in the initiative, including Bologna Mayor Matteo Lepore. Others, the Mayors hope, will answer Ferdinandi’s call: “Let’s make sure that anyone who experiences violence finds a community ready to support them and institutions capable of taking action.”

What better opportunity to demonstrate that commitment than ANCI’s national assembly, which opens in Verona on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women?

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