Father of Lorena Isceri urges Italian leaders to unite against violence after A1 murder

Video appeal to political leaders

Franco Isceri released a video statement on 5 September 2026 addressing Italian political leaders following the murder of his daughter, Lorena Isceri. Speaking directly to President Sergio Mattarella, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and all parliamentary parties, Isceri demanded cross-party consensus on policies addressing violence against women. He urged politicians to act without division between left and right to pass preventative measures unanimously. Isceri stated that public institutions must reinforce educational curricula in schools and allocate additional funding to anti-violence support centres across Italy. His 45-year-old daughter, a manager originally from the town of Squinzano in Apulia, was killed two days prior in the province of Florence.

I ask all of politics to be united. Take measures unanimously, so that tragedies like Lorena's do not happen again. Work in schools, strengthen anti-violence centres and regulatory tools so that this does not happen anymore. I ask you with all my heart. A hug to all Italian women.

Ambush in the garage and transit to Mugello

The murder occurred on Thursday, 3 September 2026, when 36-year-old Federico Vella ambushed Isceri in her parking facility. Florence investigators determined that Vella taped over the garage's photoelectric safety sensors in advance, disabling the automatic closing mechanism while he waited in concealment. When Isceri entered the garage to park, Vella assaulted and stunned her before fastening her wrists with electrical cable ties. He forced her into the trunk of her own vehicle along with her personal handbag and drove onto the Autostrada A1.

Emergency call, murder, and suicide

While locked inside the moving vehicle's trunk, Isceri retrieved her phone and contacted the 112 emergency response dispatchers. The emergency phone call lasted approximately 20 minutes while the car travelled north through Tuscany. Vella halted the vehicle on an overpass near Barberino di Mugello after discovering the active call, pulled Isceri out as she screamed, and dropped her from the motorway viaduct. Approximately 40 minutes elapsed between the killing and Vella taking his own life at the exact same location. During that interval, Vella telephoned his mother to confess and transmitted a text message to Isceri's mother stating that her daughter was dead, before jumping from the viaduct.

Judicial inquiry and family testimony

Prosecutor Antonio Natale is coordinating the ongoing criminal inquiry at the Florence Public Prosecutor's Office into the sequence of the attack. Family statements indicated that Isceri had felt threatened by her former partner prior to the incident, though she had not filed official reports with local law enforcement. In his public remarks, Franco Isceri remembered his daughter as a dedicated professional who was committed to her education, career, and personal aspirations. He reflected on the devastating impact of the murder on the surviving family members following the tragedy on the A1 overpass.

She was polite, studious, dedicated to study and work, she had many dreams, but now she has them no more.