REGGIO EMILIA – Daniele Franci, 45, from Correggio, founder and artistic director of the cultural association “Etoile European theater center” of Reggio Emilia, was arrested by the carabinieri on charges of aggravated sexual violence. According to the prosecution’s accusations, he allegedly abused ten boys, who are now between 17 and 22 years old. Crucial to the investigation was the denunciation of one of the victims, who last April turned to the military. The man, defended by the lawyer Mariasilvia Grisanti, is now in prison in Modena. It is not excluded that the number of complaints against him may increase.
A well-known person in the cultural world of Reggio and beyond, in Franci’s curriculum there is a long career as a theatrical actor, in addition to working with children and organizing festivals in schools. In 1999 he founded the Etoile in via Fratelli Cervi in Reggio Emilia, which hosts students from all over Italy and where Franci himself has a room. His own room is the place where most of the abuse would be concentrated.
For the prosecutor led by Calogero Gaetano Paci (prosecutor Valentina Salvi), Franci used his charisma and his influence as a teacher to attract fragile children, flattering them, saying that they were the “favorites”. After the compliments, the invitation to follow them to his quarters. Where the abuses took place: kisses, groping, erotic games, full intercourse. In one case, even extreme practices carried out by the teacher that risked causing suffocation of a victim. Other violence allegedly took place in the costume room, on the plane or in general during theatrical tours. The disputed facts start in 2016. Some of the victims, at the time of the violence, were minors. Even teenagers.
In the charges, the abuse of the psychic inferiority of the very young students, the most fragile and fickle, is emphasized. The victim who denounced, before going to the carabinieri, confided in other peers. She said that when he refused to follow the teacher into the room, he was scolded: “He treated me very badly,” she said, referring to him when he tried to leave.
The Municipality of Reggio Emilia, through a press release, specified that there is “no existing relationship with the theatrical association” coordinated by the 45-year-old. The municipality also explained that it “does not hold any stake” in the theater association. The institutional logos of the Municipality, the Province of Reggio Emilia, the Emilia-Romagna Region and the Ministry of Culture appear on the association’s website.