Gender-based violence, and specifically violence against women, represents a complex issue that requires the commitment of many specialized and non-specialized actors to be addressed and eliminated. The analyses contained in this issue of RPS shed light on the different intervention practices and organizational logics of specialized services, on the interaction difficulties observable in networking with general services, and on the regulatory categories within which their activity is classified and governed. (The results of the qualitative studies conducted as part of the ViVa Project: https://viva.cnr.it/)