Filing a Defamation Querela in Italy: Deadline, Procedure and What Happens Next

Diffamazione does not become a criminal case on its own. Someone has to start it, and Italian law gives the offended person a narrow window to do so. This page covers the mechanics: the deadline, where and how a querela is filed, what happens to it once it is filed, and how it can be withdrawn.

For the underlying offence itself, what diffamazione covers, how the penalty scales, the Facebook aggravante, and how it differs from ingiuria, see defamation in Italy: a criminal offence. This page assumes that background and focuses on the procedure. For the wider comparative picture, see the Italy defamation laws overview.

Information verified on 20 July 2026. This page provides general legal information and does not constitute legal advice for an individual situation.

The deadline: three calendar months, and it does not translate to a flat day count

Start here, because this is the fact that closes doors if it is missed. Diffamazione is procedibile a querela di parte: under art. 597 c.p., a prosecutor cannot pursue it unless the offended person actively files a complaint. Art. 124 c.p. then sets the clock: the right to file a querela cannot be exercised once three months, tre mesi, have passed dal giorno della notizia del fatto, from the day the offended person learns of the fact.

Three calendar months is not the same measurement as a flat count of days. A calendar month can run 28, 29, 30 or 31 days depending which month it is, so counting by months and counting by a fixed number of days diverge depending on when the period starts. Italian courts distinguish the two, and this page deliberately avoids stating the deadline as a day count for that reason.

A worked example makes the arithmetic concrete. Suppose a defamatory post about someone appears on 4 March, and the person it is about first sees it, and can identify who wrote it, on 10 March. The three month period runs from 10 March to 10 June. If instead that person saw the post right away but only worked out who wrote it on 2 May, the clock is generally understood to start running from the point they had a reasonably clear picture of the fact, which can shift the calculation later than the date the post first went up. That gap, between when something was posted and when the offended person had genuine notice of it, is often the detail that decides whether a querela is still timely.

The deadline also has a narrow survivor provision. Under art. 597 c.p., if the offended person dies before the three month term runs out, or if the offence targets the memory of someone already deceased, i prossimi congiunti, close relatives, an adoptive parent or an adopted child, may file the querela instead.

Where and how a querela is filed

Art. 337 c.p.p. sets out the formalities. A querela is proposed to the same authorities competent to receive a denuncia, which in practice means any Polizia di Stato or Carabinieri station, or directly with the Procura della Repubblica, and, for someone living abroad, a consular agent. With an authenticated signature, it can also be delivered by a representative or sent by registered mail.

If the querela is made orally, the officer receiving it writes up a verbale, a formal written record, which the person filing (or their attorney with a special power) signs. Where a querela is filed on behalf of a legal entity, for example a business defamed in a fabricated online review, the person filing on the company's behalf has to specifically state the source of their authority to represent it, not simply assert that they can.

Once received, the authority attests the date and place of filing, identifies the person who filed it, and transmits the file to the pubblico ministero, the public prosecutor. That transmission is what actually opens the matter to the criminal justice system; filing the querela is the trigger, not the end point.

Evidence: what actually determines whether a case goes anywhere

The law around diffamazione is comparatively settled. What usually decides whether a real case succeeds is evidence, and specifically two practical problems.

The first is preservation. Social media posts, reviews and messages can be deleted, edited or made private by the person who posted them, sometimes within hours of drawing attention. Screenshots that capture the full content, the date, and, where visible, the account or profile posting it are the ordinary starting point, though what counts as adequate proof in a given case is ultimately for the investigating authority and, if it gets that far, the court to assess.

The second is identification. Where a post comes from an anonymous or pseudonymous account, a private citizen generally has no direct way to compel a platform to reveal who is behind it. That is one of the practical reasons the querela mechanism exists: once a complaint is filed and the pubblico ministero opens an investigation, formal requests to a platform become available as an investigative tool that a private individual acting alone does not have. This page describes that mechanism; it is not a substitute for it, and it does not walk through how to conduct that identification yourself.

Withdrawing a querela: remissione

A querela is not irreversible. Art. 152 c.p. allows remissione, withdrawal, at any point before a conviction, either processuale (made formally within the proceeding) or extraprocessuale (made outside it, which can itself be express or tacit). Tacit withdrawal happens where the person who filed the querela does something inconsistent with wanting to pursue it.

There is an important limit most readers do not expect. Art. 155 c.p. states that a remissione has no legal effect if the accused person, the querelato, expressly or tacitly refuses it. In other words, withdrawing a complaint generally requires the other side's acceptance; a person accused of diffamazione can, in principle, decline the withdrawal and insist the case continue, for instance to be formally cleared rather than left with an unresolved accusation on the record. A remissione also cannot be made subject to conditions or a time limit, though the person withdrawing may separately choose to give up any claim to restitution or damages as part of the same act.

What happens after filing

Once the pubblico ministero receives the file, the matter proceeds under the ordinary rules that apply to a querela-based criminal offence: investigation, a decision on whether the evidence supports moving forward, and, where it does, the next procedural stage. Filing a querela starts that process; it does not itself determine the outcome, and there is no fixed timetable this page can promise for how long an investigation will take, since that depends on the facts, the evidence available, and the caseload of the office involved.

The civil route, on its own separate clock

A querela opens the criminal route under art. 595 c.p. It is not the only route, and it is not the same deadline as the civil one. Art. 2043 c.c. lets the injured person claim damages independently, and the two can run together: the injured person may join the criminal proceeding as parte civile, or bring a separate civil action instead. The three month term in art. 124 c.p. governs only the criminal querela. It does not extend or shorten the ordinary civil limitation period that applies to a damages claim, so someone who misses the querela window has not necessarily lost every option, though the criminal route specifically closes once that window passes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have to file a querela for diffamazione?

Three months from the day you learn of the fact, under art. 124 c.p. This is a period of three calendar months, not a fixed count of days, and Italian practice treats those as different amounts of time since months vary in length. The clock runs from when you actually became aware of the statement and, generally, of who made it, not from the date the statement itself was posted.

Where do I file a querela for diffamazione in Italy?

Art. 337 c.p.p. allows a querela to be filed at any authority competent to receive a denuncia, in practice a Polizia di Stato or Carabinieri station, or directly with the Procura della Repubblica, and, for someone abroad, with a consular agent. It can be delivered in person, through a representative with an authenticated signature, or sent by registered mail.

Can I withdraw a querela after filing it?

Yes, through remissione, at any point before a conviction. Under art. 155 c.p., the withdrawal only takes legal effect if the accused does not refuse it. The remissione cannot be made subject to conditions or a deadline, though the person withdrawing may choose to also give up their claim to restitution or damages.

What happens after I file the querela?

The receiving authority records the date and place of filing, identifies you, and transmits the file to the pubblico ministero, who then investigates. From there the matter follows the ordinary criminal process for a querela-based offence: the prosecutor may seek to close the case, or move it toward the next stage, depending on the evidence gathered.

What if I do not know who posted the defamatory content?

This is common with anonymous accounts and is usually the hardest practical problem, not a legal one. A private individual generally cannot compel a platform to identify an anonymous user on their own. Once a querela is filed, identifying the author becomes part of the investigation, which has tools, such as formal requests to the platform, that are not available to a private citizen acting alone.

Is filing a querela the same as suing for damages?

No. The querela opens the criminal route under art. 595 c.p. A civil damages claim under art. 2043 c.c. is a separate track with its own timing. The injured person can join the criminal case as parte civile, or pursue a separate civil action, but the three month querela deadline governs only the criminal complaint, not the civil claim.

Does the querela deadline change if the person who posted about me is impossible to identify at first?

The three month period in art. 124 c.p. runs from when the offended person has notice of the fact, which courts read as requiring reasonably certain knowledge of what happened. Establishing exactly when that knowledge existed can itself become a contested point, which is one reason to act promptly rather than wait for full certainty about the author's identity before filing.

Can someone else file the querela on my behalf if I have died?

Art. 597 c.p. allows close relatives, i prossimi congiunti, an adoptive parent or an adopted child to file where the offended person dies before the three month term expires, or where the offence is against the memory of someone already deceased.