poliziotta

Poliziotta is the feminine form of the Italian noun poliziotto, meaning a police officer. The word poliziotta literally translates to “policewoman” and is used in Italian to refer to a female member of the police, or a female detective or officer in contexts where gendered language is appropriate. The term follows standard Italian noun formation, with -o for masculine and -a for feminine forms.

In contemporary Italy, women serve across police agencies such as the Polizia di Stato and the Carabinieri. Poliziotta is used in everyday language and in media to describe female officers; the gendered form reflects Italian linguistic conventions and does not denote a separate rank or function.

In film and popular culture, the term has appeared in titles and descriptions of works featuring female police protagonists. Some older Italian crime and comedy films used poliziotta in promotional language or plot summaries, sometimes reflecting sensationalized tropes about gender and policing. Generally, poliziotta can be encountered as a descriptive label in discussions of Italian police representation, rather than as a formal category.

Related topics include the institutions of Italian policing (Polizia di Stato, Carabinieri) and the broader context of crime cinema in Italy, including the poliziottesco genre. The term poliziotta remains a gendered noun in Italian and can be encountered in journalism, fiction, and everyday speech when referring to a female police officer.