Equal Opportunities Minister Barbara Pollastrini urged parliament on Monday to give a rapid green light to an upcoming bill which would make stalking a criminal offence.
''I want parliament to approve a law against stalking because in Italy at the moment it is only punishable with a fine. This is a real paradox,'' said Pollastrini.
A draft law envisaging jail sentences of up to six years for men found guilty of stalking is about to go to the floor for debate in parliament and could be approved by the end of the year.
The measure is part of wider legislation on sexual violence drawn up by the centre-left government a year ago. In order to fill a gap in law books where stalking is concerned, it was decided to approve the relevant section separately.
''The persecution involved in stalking does women serious psychological harm and is often the antechamber of outright sexual violence,'' said House Justice Committee chief Pino Pisicchio.
The effort to win rapid approval for new norms on stalking comes as violence against women is in the public eye.
On Saturday around 150,000 women marched through central Rome in a demo marking the United Nation's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
On the eve of the march Premier Romano Prodi said the phenomenon was a ''serious'' problem in Italy and that a concerted war needed to be waged at all levels of society.
According to national statistics bureau Istat, some 32% of Italian women between 16 and 70 have been the victims of sexual or physical violence. Only 1% of men who commit acts of sexual violence on women are ever convicted.
Istat director General Linda Laura Sabbadini was at pains last week to demolish the common idea that most sex crimes against Italians are committed on the street by foreigners.
''In 70% of cases, this type of violence takes place within the family. It is committed by husbands, boyfriends and ex-boyfriends. Outsiders are guilty about 6% of the time,'' she said.
Pollastrini made the same point on Monday, urging parliament to approve the rest of the legislation on sexual violence quickly also.
Violence against Italian women shows no signs of waning, said Maria Gabriella Carnieri Moscatelli, head of the Telefono Rosa women's help line.
Telefono Rosa receives about 1,000 calls a month, twice as many as a year ago, she said, noting that the majority of incidents are never reported.
''Men and women have to fight side by side to break the spiral of violence because the phenomenon has its roots partly in the conflict between the sexes,'' she added.
