Ten years of Animal Law Italia
In 2026 we celebrate our association’s tenth anniversary. Here are the most important milestones along the way.
Sportello Rete Felina
Rete Felina’s portal for people who care for free-living cats: the colony register, practical guides and, for member groups in Puglia, Calabria, Basilicata and Sardinia, reports to the legal team that can be followed step by step. It is free.
Report a case →
Report animal cruelty
A form open to everyone for reporting animal cruelty in Italy, seen in person or online.
Make a report →
Pet Law is born
A digital record book for your animals, guides to the laws that protect them, letter templates and quizzes for children and schools. A new project that is free, ad-free and never sells your data.
Discover the project (in Italian) →
Injured animals at markets: our investigation
With the Not for Sale coalition we document for the first time in Italy what happens to animals sold alive at weekly markets. The footage airs on Mi Manda Rai 3: we report a farm to the authorities and launch a petition for a nationwide ban.
Read more (in Italian) →
We join Gabbie Vuote
On World Animal Day in Rome, we join the other associations in asking Parliament to begin work on the citizens’ bill to ban cages on Italian farms, backed by over 62,000 signatures.
Read more (in Italian) →
Animal-free fairs in Puglia
Twelve associations coordinated by ALI call on municipalities to enforce the regional ban, which had stayed on paper for years. Rutigliano, Locorotondo, Casamassima and Alezio put it into effect within a week.
Read more →ALI now speaks English
We publish the English version of our website, with our main pages, news and journal, for those following our work from abroad.
Lush stands up for crustaceans
Lush joins the coalition: from 1 July its Italian stores collect signatures for the petition and sell a limited-edition bath bomb in support of the campaign.
Read more →
Catanzaro animal facilities: the first convictions
In the Grecale case, where ALI is a civil party, three convictions and one plea bargain are handed down. Ten more people go to trial.
Read more →
The Rete Felina project
An innovative legal advocacy project for the correct and uniform application of the rules protecting cats that live freely, connecting colony caretakers, municipalities and local health authorities. It starts in Puglia and Calabria; legal support now also covers Basilicata and Sardinia.
Read more →Leinì bans the sale of live animals
The town council unanimously approves a ban on selling live animals at weekly markets: the first municipality in Piedmont and the twenty-first in Italy, following a push from the Not for Sale coalition.
Read more →
Not for Sale
The campaign to end the sale of live animals at fairs and markets.
Visit the campaign site (in Italian) →
Caught in the Net!
A new project to fight the mistreatment of animals shown on social networks.
Read more →
Even the Tough Ones Suffer
We launch our media campaign to raise public awareness of the suffering of decapod crustaceans.
Download the materials (in Italian) →
European "Stop Mercosur" mobilization
ALI launches a political pressure campaign in Italy to stop the EU-Mercosur agreement, denouncing the risks to animal welfare and the environment from importing products from countries with lower standards.
Read more (in Italian) →Animal welfare survey
We publish a YouTrend survey on perceptions of animal welfare and the treatment of decapod crustaceans.
United for decapod crustaceans
The first national and European coalition dedicated to protecting lobsters, crabs and spiny lobsters is launched, coordinated by Animal Law Italia.
Visit the dedicated site (in Italian) →
SOS animALI
A project to spread a culture of respect for animals through knowledge of the laws that protect them.
Read the guides (in Italian) →
Vote for Animals 2024
The European elections campaign led 125 candidates to sign commitments on animal protection, with 15 of them elected and now carrying these demands in the European Parliament.
Read more →
Schools project
We create a handbook to introduce respect for animals into the education of young children, teaching empathy.
Discover the project (in Italian) →
Research on the legal recognition of sanctuaries for free animals
We present a detailed report calling for a clear distinction between farms and “permanent shelters”, to give legal protection to rescued animals and the places that house them.
Read more →
The WHALE course at Ca' Foscari
First edition of the course on the rights of non-human animals, run by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice in collaboration with Animal Law Italia.
Discover the course →
Crustacean sentience: the opinion of Italian academia
A key scientific milestone reached with the University of Messina, which officially confirms the sentience of lobsters, strengthening the legal basis for their protection.
Read more →
Launch of “I Quaderni di Diritto degli Animali”
First issue of ALI’s scientific journal, a high-level interdisciplinary resource for professionals and academics in the field.
Read more (in Italian) →
Live crustaceans off the shelves in some supermarkets
The management chose to drop this practice after the inspections by the authorities that followed our complaint.
Read more →
Standing up for crustaceans
Animal Law Italia launches the first campaign dedicated to protecting decapod crustaceans in Italy, with the main goal of ending the sale of live crustaceans.
Discover the campaign →We take the European Commission to the European Ombudsman
Legal action against the European Commission over its unjustified delay in revising animal welfare legislation, as promised to citizens.
Read more (in Italian) →
Italy's first interdisciplinary journal on animal protection
The journal “Diritto degli Animali. Profili etici, scientifici e giuridici” is registered, edited by lawyer Elisa Scarpino of the Varese Bar. It is the first interdisciplinary journal in Italy entirely devoted to animal protection.
Visit the journal →
"End the Cage Age" signatures delivered to the Italian Government
Formal delivery of over 1.4 million signatures calling for an end to cages on farms across Europe, a very strong political signal.
Read more (in Italian) →Animal Law Group
ALI is among the organizations that found this group within Eurogroup for Animals, dedicated to promoting the full implementation of European legislation.
Montréal Declaration on Animal Exploitation
ALI spreads in Italy the international ethical manifesto calling for an end to treating animals as objects, based on the work of hundreds of scholars.
Read more (in Italian) →
We call for a European Commissioner for Animal Welfare
ALI joins the #EUforAnimals campaign, helping to gather 309,897 signatures from European citizens and the support of Italian MEPs. The request is eventually granted after the 2024 European elections.
Read more (in Italian) →
Ending the chaining of dogs
Together with Green Impact and Fondazione Cave Canem, we launch “Liberi Dalle Catene”, a mobilization that leads to bans on keeping dogs on chains in several regions, a turning point for animal welfare.
Read more (in Italian) →Research on ritual slaughter without stunning
Results of interdisciplinary research on the legal and scientific problems of slaughter without prior stunning, with a comparative analysis of the solutions adopted in other European countries.
Read more (in Italian) →
Animal Law Italia joins Eurogroup for Animals
The association joins the prestigious European coalition, becoming a key reference point for the progress of animal law in Brussels.
Read more (in Italian) →
Building the network
We consolidate the network of lawyers and legal professionals to bring the first strategic complaints in cases of serious mistreatment.
Read more (in Italian) →End the Cage Age
ALI takes part in the European Citizens’ Initiative against cages on farms, helping to reach the historic milestone of 1.4 million signatures from European citizens calling for an end to this practice.
Sentient Beings, Not Objects
With the conference “Animals in the civil code: towards a new legal definition?” at the “Aldo Moro” University of Bari, we present our first campaign, which calls for Italian legislation to be brought into line with the latest European trends.
Training events to spread a culture of animal rights
ALI begins bringing the debate on law and animal rights into universities and professional bodies, organizing a series of training events for students, lawyers, veterinarians and members of the public interested in social progress.
Animal Law Italia is born
A group of lawyers and other professionals active in animal protection meet in Milan on 23 June, during a visit to Italy by the Australian philosopher Peter Singer, and decide to bring a new approach to the legal defense of animals to Italy.