Enforcing a debt in Italy: where it becomes extortion
The same conduct — pressure, threats, insistence to obtain payment — falls under two provisions that are worlds apart. Where you genuinely believe you are owed the money and are pursuing that claim, it is a minor offence prosecuted only on complaint. Where you are not, it is extortion, carrying five to ten years.
What separates them
Not the conduct and not the amount: the state of mind. The lesser offence applies to a person who, in order to exercise a claim they believe is legally protected, uses violence or threats instead of going to court. Extortion applies to a person who uses the same means knowing there is no such claim, or claiming far more than could be due.
The Italian courts have settled that the assessment is subjective: what matters is whether the person acted in the belief of pursuing a right that could in principle be recognised, however mistaken they were about its existence or extent. That belief has to be documented rather than asserted — with the contract, the invoices, the correspondence.
| Element | Enforcing a claim | Extortion |
|---|---|---|
| Underlying right | Believed to exist and be actionable | Absent, or grossly exceeded |
| Penalty | A fine, in the ordinary case | Five to ten years and a fine |
| Prosecution | On complaint | Of the authority's own motion |
| Withdrawal | Extinguishes the offence | No effect |
| Precautionary measures | Effectively unavailable | The practical norm |
| Provision | Art. 393 Criminal Code | Art. 629 Criminal Code |
The situations that generate these files
Unpaid invoices. A supplier pursues a client with escalating messages, threats to publicise the debt, to go to their customers, to report them. Where the debt is real, the position is the lesser offence; where the amount claimed has been inflated with penalties and interest nobody agreed, that inflation is what moves it upward.
Company disputes. Pressure between partners over a shareholding, a payment or an exit. These generate the most serious charges because the sums are large and the threats often involve reporting the other party to authorities.
Rentals and property. A landlord who changes the locks, cuts utilities or removes belongings to obtain arrears. Each of those is a separate offence and none of them is a remedy, as set out in the guide on neighbours and property.
Personal loans. Money lent informally, pursued informally. Where interest has grown beyond legal limits, a further and far more serious offence arises.
Which threats matter
A threat need not be of violence. Threatening to reveal something, to report someone to the authorities, to damage a reputation or a business are all capable of supporting either offence, and threatening to report a genuine offence in order to obtain a payment is squarely within extortion.
That last point catches people who consider themselves entirely in the right. Saying to a supplier that you will report them unless they pay converts a civil dispute into a criminal one against you.
What to do instead
- Use the civil route: formal notice, injunction, enforcement. It is slower and it is not a criminal offence.
- Keep the claim to what is actually documented; inflated figures are the single strongest indicator of extortion.
- Do not raise reporting to authorities as leverage, in any form, including through intermediaries.
- Do not act on the property or the person: no locks, no utilities, no removal of goods.
- Where messages have already been sent, preserve the complete exchange: the context is usually more favourable than the extract.
Frequently asked questions
Is chasing a debt aggressively a crime in Italy?
Where the debt is genuine and you believe you are entitled to it, it is the minor offence of enforcing a claim by force, prosecuted only on complaint.
When does it become extortion?
Where there is no underlying right, or the amount claimed grossly exceeds what could be due. The bracket then runs from five to ten years.
Can I threaten to report someone unless they pay?
No. Threatening to report an offence in order to obtain payment falls squarely within extortion, even where the offence you would report is real.
Can I change the locks on my own property?
No. That, cutting utilities and removing belongings are separate offences and none of them is a remedy for arrears.
If a complaint has been made
Whether a genuine claim existed, and what it actually amounted to, is the whole case. First contact is free and covered by professional privilege.