Tourism and crime are two relevant phenomena in Italy. As reported by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) tourists in Italy have constantly increased: 57 million of arrivals (international and domestic visitors) were accounted in the official tourist accommodations in 19853, and they reached 83 million in 2003 (a growth rate of 47%); the number of nights in official accommodations was about 333 million in 1985, and reached 344 million in 2003 (+3%)4. During this time span tourist arrivals have increased on average by 2.2% and tourist nights by 0.5%. As a result, the average length of stay decreased from about 6 days to 4. This downward trend of tourist nights is in line with the EU trend where the number of nights has decreased more than the number of trips (-1.6 % and -1.0 % respectively; Eurostat, 2011).
In 2003, more than fifty per cent