ROME. Morning of fear in Rome where a 13-year-old boy stabbed a teacher.
The incident occurred after 9 a.m. inside the Giovanni Verga middle school on Giovanni Gussone street, within the Largo Cocconi comprehensive institute in Centocelle. According to some students, the motive behind the act was the “anger” harbored by the boy, who until yesterday had never shown any signs of distress, towards the teacher for an academic debt he considered unfair. A grudge that, according to the collected testimonies, the young boy decided to vent with three stabs, emulating the stabbing of the teacher in Trescore Balneario that happened in March.
Everything happened in a few moments. According to the reconstruction, the teenager wore a helmet and a camera to film the attack live on social media, on a Telegram group. After spraying irritant spray in the teacher’s face, he struck with the blows that hit the woman’s side, then he punched her twice. The intervention of a classmate of Congolese origin was providential in stopping everything.
The carabinieri arrived on the scene. The boy was then taken to the police station, accompanied by his parents. According to investigative sources, the thirteen-year-old’s cell phone was seized to carry out checks useful to reconstruct the exact dynamics.
According to what emerged, the boy, who entered the school last, went to the bathroom, put on a helmet with a cell phone attached on top as if it were a GoPro, the softair glasses, which he said he bought from a specialized site, and took out two diving knives from his backpack: one he attached to his belt, the other he wielded to injure the 66-year-old woman. All this happened during a video call on Telegram with a group of people, on whom the military police’s investigations are now focused.
The teacher, Isabella Marsilio, a teacher of Italian, history, and geography, was discharged in the afternoon with a prognosis of seven days. She herself recounts in an interview with La Repubblica what she would like to say to the student. “He harbored great anger inside himself towards me, I feel great sorrow for his distress,” she begins, adding that she wants to meet him “to hug him.” Marsilio also responds to some of his posts supporting remigration: “There is nothing inconsistent between an idea I express on social media and applauding a boy who saved me. My ideas do not change. My student from Congo has every right to be here and should be given a medal. However, it is different for those who come here and commit crimes.”
Many messages of support for the teacher, among the first those from the Minister of Education and Merit (MIM) Giuseppe Valditara, who immediately contacted the school principal Wanda Giacomini and then emphasized: “In addition to education on respect and awareness of the risks connected to the internet, it is necessary to prevent minors under 15 from accessing dangerous social media and channels. In this regard, the EU Commission’s Kids Act goes in the right direction. Clear rules must be established to protect young people and at the same time, as we are already doing, restore respect for teachers’ authority and rules, discipline, and a sense of responsibility in everyday school life. We must not be afraid to state that those who make mistakes must pay.” The young attacker – explains the MIM in a statement – has always been a calm boy, without particular problems: the influence of social media and violent sites he would have approached recently could have played a role in the incident.
The episode recalls what happened in March 2026 near Bergamo, where a 57-year-old teacher, Chiara Mocchi, was stabbed at school by a 13-year-old student: struck in the neck in the school corridor, a blow came within half a millimeter of the aorta causing a massive hemorrhage, with almost one and a half liters of blood lost in a short time. The teacher said she was saved also thanks to the intervention of another student, who confronted the attacker to defend her. Marsilio also received a message of support from Mocchi herself: “Let’s put Values back at the center of the educational pact, this is my urgent appeal. Young people must be helped to understand that teachers are their allies, their support, their guides, and not antagonists or obstacles. School is Life, not a theater of death.”
Echoing her was Giuseppe Lavenia, psychologist and psychotherapist expert in Education and Digital Well-being: “Educating respect also involves the difficulty of opposing a child and asking him how he treats others. If a parent insults a teacher in front of him, it becomes difficult to expect that boy to respect him. We still know too little about this case to assign diagnoses or responsibilities to the family. The teacher has the right to be protected and supported even in returning to class. The possible distress of the aggressor cannot overshadow the consequences for the victim.” Lavenia proposes continuous work on conflicts in schools, with psychologists supporting teachers and involving parents: “We need to deal with real fights, threats, humiliations that also happen through chats. And involve families before a sanction arrives. Paid professionals and dedicated time are needed. Asking schools to educate respect without giving them the tools means once again shifting everything onto teachers.”
Finally, along the same lines, also the Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies Fabio Rampelli (Brothers of Italy): “We must open communication channels with the younger generations to understand why more and more boys resort to using knives: psychological help desks, listening centers for families and schools, and eliminate social media for minors.”
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