Frisky Italian men – notorious for pinching and fondling women – have been warned: Keep your hands to yourself or face prison.
Italy’s highest appeals court ruled that fondling a woman’s buttocks or touching her breasts constitutes an offense punishable by a jail term and fine.
The Court of Cassation made its decision based on the case of a 39-year-old shopkeeper in Rome, identified as Giuseppe C.
He was prosecuted when a female employee complained he had repeatedly “felt her up.”
In court, Giuseppe protested that what he had done was “normal behavior” in Italy.
“Basically, I limited myself to fleeting touches,” he testified, “and what is more, I touched only parts of her body that were covered by clothing.”