Milan’s San Carlo Borromeo Hospital opened the exhibition in its lobby ahead of Monday, which marked the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

The collection of X-rays on display include one showing the large blade of a butcher’s knife lodged in a woman’s abdomen, and others showing fractured limbs, including a shin bone broken in two, a shattered wrist and a crushed nose.

The X-rays are accompanied by quotes from anonymous victims.

One woman wrote of how her partner smashed her face against the kitchen wall and pummelled her with 43 blows.

“I counted the blows to try to distract myself from the pain, otherwise I’d be dead,” the woman said.

The exhibition – which runs through December 9 – was conceived by trauma surgeon Maria Grazia Vantadori, 59, who wanted to highlight the severity of the situation, drawing on what she has witnessed in her 26-year career.

The display isn’t the only effort the hospital has made to combat violence against women.

It also provides assistance to victims of domestic violence, via a women’s centre that offers psychological support and social services, including legal help.

The centre has already assisted 322 women this year.

In Italy, 142 women were killed through domestic violence in 2018, up 0.7 per cent from a year earlier, according to Italian research institute Eures.

In 2019, 94 women across the country have been killed by their partners or ex partners.

In the last five years, 538,000 women were the victims of physical or sexual abuse by their partners, according to Italy’s national statistics agency Istat.

Experts say those numbers are conservative because women are reluctant to come forward and report cases of domestic violence.

The exhibition is just one of the initiatives in Italy to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of people protested in Rome and honoured victims of violence against women, while Serie A soccer players painted red stripes on their cheeks for all 10 matches over the weekend and on Monday to promote the cause.

Photo: ANSA