Disturbing the peace: when is it a crime?
The Criminal Code [art. 459] punishes the "disturbance of people's occupations or rest" (what is commonly called "disturbance of the public peace"). Specifically, the art. 459 reads as follows: «whoever, through shouting or noise, abusing sound instruments or acoustic signals, or causing or not preventing animal noises, disturbs people's occupations or rest, or shows, gatherings or public entertainment, is punished with imprisonment of up to three months or with a fine of up to 309 euros". Therefore, two types of crime are distinguished:
- the first paragraph sanctions the conduct of «anyone who, by means of shouting or noise, disturbs people's occupations or rest, or shows, gatherings or public entertainment»
- the second paragraph punishes "those who practice a noisy profession or trade against the provisions of the law or the requirements of the Authority".
In order for a noise to constitute a crime and therefore fall within the scope of the law just reported, the following three conditions must be met:
- the noise must be made through one of the means strictly indicated by law (cackles, noises, acoustic signals, sound instruments or even animal noises),
- the noise must be perceptible to an indeterminate number of people
- the noise must exceed the limit of normal tolerability which can be concretely appreciated in relation to the specific environment and time.
Therefore the standard does not give technical references regarding the entity or volume of noises. In essence, there must potentially be more victims, regardless of the fact that only one of them is the one complaining (as per Court of Cassation Judgment no. 17811/2019). For example, if you sing the Christmas gift under your neighbor's balcony just to spite him, but there are no other houses nearby, you are not committing a crime: in fact, only one person is being harassed. But if you sing with an electric guitar in the middle of a square and all the surrounding inhabitants hear, regardless of whether it is day or night, you risk a complaint.
Therefore, the crime is triggered when the noises can reach the ears of more people and, therefore, must be considered intolerable.
All of this is influenced by the conditions of time and space: "of time" because singing with the same power in broad daylight might not bother people due to the background noise of traffic covering you; "of space" because singing in the countryside where only a couple of houses are located is not a crime (since we are not talking about a multitude of people being harassed) while it is in a city centre.
In short, for the crime of disturbing the peace to be triggered, the suitability of the sound emissions to cause harm to an indeterminate number of people is necessary.
Disturbing the peace: when is it a crime?
The Criminal Code [art. 459] punishes the "disturbance of people's occupations or rest" (what is commonly called "disturbance of the public peace"). Specifically, the art. 459 reads as follows: «whoever, through shouting or noise, abusing sound instruments or acoustic signals, or causing or not preventing animal noises, disturbs people's occupations or rest, or shows, gatherings or public entertainment, is punished with imprisonment of up to three months or with a fine of up to 309 euros". Therefore, two types of crime are distinguished:
- the first paragraph sanctions the conduct of «anyone who, by means of shouting or noise, disturbs people's occupations or rest, or shows, gatherings or public entertainment»
- the second paragraph punishes "those who practice a noisy profession or trade against the provisions of the law or the requirements of the Authority".
In order for a noise to constitute a crime and therefore fall within the scope of the law just reported, the following three conditions must be met:
- the noise must be made through one of the means strictly indicated by law (cackles, noises, acoustic signals, sound instruments or even animal noises),
- the noise must be perceptible to an indeterminate number of people
- the noise must exceed the limit of normal tolerability which can be concretely appreciated in relation to the specific environment and time.
Therefore the standard does not give technical references regarding the entity or volume of noises. In essence, there must potentially be more victims, regardless of the fact that only one of them is the one complaining (as per Court of Cassation Judgment no. 17811/2019). For example, if you sing the Christmas gift under your neighbor's balcony just to spite him, but there are no other houses nearby, you are not committing a crime: in fact, only one person is being harassed. But if you sing with an electric guitar in the middle of a square and all the surrounding inhabitants hear, regardless of whether it is day or night, you risk a complaint.
Therefore, the crime is triggered when the noises can reach the ears of more people and, therefore, must be considered intolerable.
All of this is influenced by the conditions of time and space: "of time" because singing with the same power in broad daylight might not bother people due to the background noise of traffic covering you; "of space" because singing in the countryside where only a couple of houses are located is not a crime (since we are not talking about a multitude of people being harassed) while it is in a city centre.
In short, for the crime of disturbing the peace to be triggered, the suitability of the sound emissions to cause harm to an indeterminate number of people is necessary.