It was Autumn 2023, as the golden leaves began their descent to the ground and nature stripped itself bare for the winter, I found myself in Milan. A chill hung in the air, as did the impenetrable mists, which, as anyone who has visited northern Italy at that time of year will know, some days barely rose above the city’s highest spires, and I headed to the cinema to watch C’è ancora domani. 

For days afterwards it had me musing on women’s rights, how lucky we are that things have changed, or so I thought. It was therefore with terrible poignancy that, only a few weeks later, I read about the murder of 22-year-old student Giulia Cecchettin by her boyfriend in Italy.