A widening probe into the alleged sexual abuse of children as young as three by teachers at a top nursery school near Rome has shocked the country and sparked calls for swift reforms.
Six people including three female teachers and a female caretaker at the Olga Rovere school in the small town of Rignano Flaminio were arrested on Tuesday.
They are accused of repeatedly abusing at least 16 children aged three and four, in some cases drugging them before forcing them to take part in sexual acts and filming them.
The school, considered one of the best nursery schools in the region of Lazio surrounding Rome, has been criticised for failing to take immediate action once the allegations surfaced.
The investigation began last July, when the parents of six children reported their suspicions of sexual abuse to the police.
The parents were alarmed by signs of bruising and red swelling around the genital areas of their children, as well as by the dazed and confused state in which they sometimes returned home from school.
The school was raided by police in October and parents began to pressure the school's new headmistress Loredana Cascelli to act on the increasing complaints.
In December, Education Minister Giuseppe Fioroni authorised the suspension of the teachers as a cautionary measure but delegated the application to local education officials because he had not been given the names of the suspects.
The teachers were finally suspended in late February, some two weeks after their colleagues signed a petition in their defence calling for "an end to this despicable harassment".
Prosecutors leading the investigation wrote in their report that they were "truly perplexed by the lack of any sort of precautionary measures to protect the children, despite the insistent requests of the parents".
Italian daily La Repubblica reported on Thursday that at least 80 of the school's 255 pupils had undergone medical and psychological tests since October.
It said the outcome of the tests had not been made public.
One mother complained to reporters that the local school authorities had failed to take the parents' suspicions seriously.
"They accused us of trying to ruin the lives of respectable people... The education minister only sent in the inspectors after we asked for it through an appeal. The school didn't think of it. And it took months for them to suspend the teachers," she said.
Father Fortunato Di Noto, one of the country's best-known campaigners against child porn and abuse, accused schools involved in paedophile investigations of failing to help investigators.
"In 90% of cases, they defend their staff to an extent that goes beyond all comprehension... Schools have a duty to collaborate," said the priest.
Minister Fioroni said on Thursday that he was working on a reform bill which would allow the authorities to move more quickly in cases where school staff were suspected of serious crimes.
He said the reform would give magistrates the power to order the immediate suspension of personnel who were under investigation.
He said another key change would be the automatic sacking of suspects if they were convicted.
Under current legislation, the bureaucratic procedures required mean it can take months and even longer before convicted staff are fired.
Fioroni also spoke of the Rignano Flaminio case, saying: "I am shocked and pained. If the allegations turn out to be true, it would be horrifying".
The two other suspects arrested on Tuesday were a young Sri Lankan male, and the husband of one of the teachers who formerly worked as a cameraman at state broadcaster RAI.
Two of the teachers, both grandmothers, have been in service at the school for decades and one is close to retirement.
All six deny wrongdoing.
According to a report in Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Thursday, police are also seeking five other adult suspects.
Police say the children were taken to an apartment near the school owned by one of the teachers where they were then made to perform sexual acts with the Sri Lankan suspect while the cameraman filmed them.
Children who protested or resisted were given sleeping pills, tranquilisers or other types of drugs, they said.
It is not known whether the suspects then sold the filmed material on the illegal porn market.
The six face a range of charges including kidnapping, indecently assaulting minors and group sexual assault.
But a former teacher at the school, Pasqualina Pellegrino, said she could "swear on the innocence" of the teachers and the caretaker.
"I am sure of their innocence and have full trust in them because I've seen the way they were with the children," she said.
