Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T22:07:08.712Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Geography and Economic Sociology of Recent Immigration to Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2016

Russell King  and
Jacqueline Andall
Russell King
Affiliation:
School of European Studies, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QN, UK, Telephone: 01273 678744, Fax: 01273 623246, E-mail: [email protected]
Jacqueline Andall
Affiliation:
Department of European Studies and Modern Languages, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK, Telephone: 01225 826826, Fax: 01225 826099. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

This article provides an overview of the geography and economic sociology of recent immigration to Italy. Its main purpose is to offer a contextual framework for the mainly place- and nationality-specific studies which follow and make up the main contributions to this special issue of the journal. Throughout our account, stress is laid on the regional diversity of the immigrant experience within Italy, and on the diversity of migratory types and nationalities which have entered the country over the last twenty-thirty years. In the final part of the article we make a brief analysis of the Italian political response to the country's relatively new status as a receiver of large-scale immigration.

Type
Articles
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 4 , Issue 2: Special Issue: The Italian experience of immigration , November 1999 , pp. 135 - 158
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1. Favero, Luigi and Tassello, Graziano, ‘Cent'anni di emigrazione italiana (1876–1976)’, in Rosoli, Gianfausto (ed.), Un secolo di emigrazione italiana: 1876–1976, Centro Studi Emigrazione, Rome, 1978, pp. 9–64.Google Scholar

2. Ministero degli Esteri, Affari, Emigrazione, Direzione Generate e Sociali, Affari, Comunità italiane nel mondo, 1985–1987, Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Rome, 1988, p. 294; Bonifazi, Corrado, L'immigrazione straniera in Italia, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1998, p. 115.Google Scholar

3. For details see King, Russell, Patterns of Italian Migrant Labour: The Historical and Geographical Context, University of Bristol, Centre for Mediterranean Studies, Occasional Paper, 4, 1992, pp. 2–4.Google Scholar

4. King, Russell, Il Ritorno in Patria: Return Migration to Italy in Historical Perspective, University of Durham, Department of Geography, Occasional Publication, 23, 1988.Google Scholar

5. Hellman, Judith Adler, ‘Immigrant “space” in Italy: when an emigrant sending becomes an immigrant receiving society’. Modem Italy, 2, 1–2, 1997, pp. 34–51.Google Scholar

6. For detailed tabulations and graphs of Italy's postwar emigration and return migration trends see Rosoli, (ed.), Un secolo di emigrazione italiana, pp. 13–15, 17, 39–40, 43–4, 51–3, 347, 349, 352, 355, 374; or for summary graphs, see King, Patterns of Italian Migrant Labour, pp.5, 7, 18–19.Google Scholar

7. These are comprehensively evaluated in Bonifazi, , L'immigrazione straniera in Italia, pp. 105–70.Google Scholar

8. Quirino, Paolo and Leone, Michele, Gli stranieri in Italia: fonti statistiche, ISTAT Note e Relazioni, 4, Rome, 1993, pp. 10–25.Google Scholar

9. See 13° Censimento Generate della Popolazione e delle Abitazioni 20 Ottobre 1991: risultati provvisori provinciali e comunali, ISTAT, Rome, 1992.Google Scholar

10. See Gli immigrati presenti in Italia: una stima per l'anno 1989, ISTAT Note e Relazioni, 1, Rome, 1991.Google Scholar

11. La presenza straniera in Italia, ISTAT, Rome, 1993.Google Scholar

12. Bonifazi, , L'immigrazione straniera in Italia, p. 117. In the ISTAT estimate, more than half the non-EU immigrants were thought to be irregolari—undocumented or ‘irregular’ foreigners.Google Scholar

13. Quirino, and Leone, , Gli stranieri in Italia, pp. 23–4.Google Scholar

14. di Roma, Caritas, Immigrazione dossier statistico '98, Anterem, Rome, 1998, pp. 159–60.Google Scholar

15. Acquisition of a permit makes it much easier for the immigrant to return home, safe in the knowledge that the permit will guarantee re-entry to Italy. Field research among the Bangladeshi community, most of whom were initially undocumented, revealed that, once a permit was obtained, the first thing many Bangladeshis did was to go home. See King, Russell and Knights, Melanie, ‘Bangladeshis in Rome: a case of migratory opportunism’, in Gould, W.T.S. and Findlay, A.M. (eds). Population Migration and the Changing World Order, Wiley, Chichester, 1994, pp. 127–43.Google Scholar

16. di Roma, Caritas, Immigrazione dossier statistico '98, p. 146.Google Scholar

17. Bonifazi, , L'immigrazione straniera in Italia, pp. 115, 117, 119.Google Scholar

18. This figure is consistent with the summation of the total of permit-holders (1, 240, 700 on 31 December 1997) with the latest attempt to quantify the irregular immigrant population carried out by an inter-university team for a governmental commission on foreigners in Italy, which estimated 235, 000 irregolari in April 1998. The main nationalities making up this estimate were Moroccans 25, 000, Albanians 19, 400, Romanians 17, 200, Tunisians 16, 000, citizens of the former Yugoslavia 14, 800, Filipinos 13300, Chinese 13, 000, Poles 11, 200, Peruvians 8, 200, Senegalese 7, 500, Egyptians 7, 000, Brazilians 6, 800, Sri Lankans 6, 600 and Indians 5, 500. For details, see di Roma, Caritas, Immigrazione dossier statistico '98, pp. 129–30.Google Scholar

19. These figures for Ghana, Somalia, etc. are for 31 December 1996 and are from Caritas di Roma, , Immigrazione dossier statistico '97, Anterem, Rome, 1997, pp. 54–5; the 1998 dossier provides only an abbreviated list of the 20 biggest communities.Google Scholar

20. Bonifazi, , L'immigrazione straniera in Italia, p. 151. A correction factor applied to the under-registration of minors yields the following revised estimates: 0–18, 11.3 per cent; 19–40, 62.5 per cent; 41–60, 20.3 per cent; over 61, 5.9 per cent. Caritas di Roma, Immigrazione dossier statistico '98, p. 119.Google Scholar

21. See the tables in Bonifazi, , L'immigrazione straniera in Italia, pp. 154–5.Google Scholar

22. Or to 125, 565 according to anagrafe registrations for 31 December 1996; see di Roma, Caritas, Immigrazione dossier statistico '98, pp. 117, 119, 177.Google Scholar

23. Ibid., pp. 165–72.Google Scholar

24. Ibid., pp. 190–201.Google Scholar

25. Not included in the table are several important countries with more or less balanced populations, for example the USA, some West European countries and also some groups from the developing world, such as China (67.0 per cent male) and Nigeria (51.7 per cent female).Google Scholar

26. Venturini, Alessandra, ‘An interpretation of Mediterranean migration’. Labour, 2, 2, 1988, pp. 125–54.Google Scholar

27. Ambrosini, Maurizio, ‘Immigrati e lavoro in Lombardia. Verso il superamento di un doppio pregiudizio’, Studi Emigrazione, 32, 119, 1995, pp. 491–503.Google Scholar

28. There is a long theoretical debate about this kind of interdisciplinarity. See for instance Swedberg, Richard, Max Weber and the Idea of Economic Sociology, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1998. Also, within an Italian context, see the important work of Enzo Mingione, Sociologia della vita economica. La Nuova Italia Scientifica, Rome, 1997.Google Scholar

29. See Portes, Alejandro, ‘The informal economy and its paradoxes’, in Smelser, N.J. and Swedberg, R. (eds), The Handbook of Economic Sociology, Princeton University Press and the Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1994, pp. 426–49.Google Scholar

30. Reyneri, Emilio, ‘The role of the underground economy in irregular migration to Italy: cause or effect?’. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 24, 2, 1998, pp. 313–31; Mingione, Enzo and Quassoli, Fabio, ‘The participation of immigrants in the underground economy in Italy’, in King, Russell, Lazaridis, Gabriella and Tsardanidis, Charalambos (eds), Eldorado or Fortress? Migration in Southern Europe, Macmillan, London, 1999, pp. 27–56.Google Scholar

31. See, for example, Campani, Giovanna, ‘Donne immigrate in Italia’, in Cocchi, G. (ed.), Stranieri in Italia, Istituto Cattaneo, Bologna, 1990, pp. 3–16; Raffaele, Giovanni, ‘Le immigrate extracomunitarie in Italia’, Studi Emigrazione, 29, 106, 1992, pp. 194–225.Google Scholar

32. Organizaçao das Malheres Caboverdeanas em Italia, Capo Verde: una storia lunga died isole, D'Anselmi, Milan, 1989. See also Jacqueline Andall's article in this issue.Google Scholar

33. Andall, Jacqueline, ‘Migrant women and gender role redefinitions in the Italian context’. Journal of Area Studies, 6, 1995, pp. 203–15.Google Scholar

34. On the socio–occupational mobility of immigrant domestic workers, see Ambrosini, Maurizio, ‘Cittadinanza economica e cittadinanza sociale: il caso lombardo’, in Donne, Marcella Delle, Melotti, Umberto and Pertilli, Sandra (eds), Immigrazione in Europa, CEDISS, Rome, 1993, pp. 347–63. Regarding the rapid incorporation of immigrant women, especially Nigerians and Albanians, in the sex industry, see Campani, Giovanna, ‘Immigrant women in Southern Europe: social exclusion, domestic work and prostitution in Italy’, in King, et al., Eldorado or Fortress?, pp. 145–69.Google Scholar

35. Zanfrini, L., ‘L'immigrazione straniera nei mercati del lavoro’, in IRER (ed.), L'immigrazione extracomunitaria in Lombardia: il ruolo delle politiche regionali, IRER, Milan, 1991, pp. 13–49.Google Scholar

36. For a formal application of dual labour market theory to the case of immigration into Italy (and Southern Europe in general) see King, Russell, Fielding, Anthony and Black, Richard, ‘The migration turnaround in Southern Europe’, in King, Russell and Black, Richard (eds), Southern Europe and the New Immigrations, Sussex Academic Press, Brighton, 1997, pp. 1–25.Google Scholar

37. Pinto, P., ‘L'inserimento di lavoratori stranieri in imprese italiane: il caso di Bologna’, Il Corriere Calabrese, 2, 1, 1992, pp. 33–9. See also Faïçal Daly's article in this issue.Google Scholar

38. Ambrosini, , ‘Cittadinanza economica e cittadinanza sociale’.Google Scholar

39. Bonifazi, , L'immigrazione straniera in Italia, pp. 160–1.Google Scholar

40. Lombardy's share of the total rose from 13 per cent in the late 1980s to more than 20 per cent in the mid-1990s, while Lazio's fell from over 30 per cent in 1987–8 to barely 19 per cent in 1997. For the detailed annual trends for all Italian regions, see di Roma, Caritas, Immigrazione dossier statistico '98, p. 93.Google Scholar

41. Ibid., pp. 326–41. Rome is the ‘capital of immigration’ in Italy for several reasons: its airport, its foreign embassies and its vast informal economy including a buoyant demand for domestic workers among its many wealthy and middle-class families. Also relevant here is its key role as a religious centre: in Rome 21.5 per cent of sojourn permits are issued for religious reasons, compared to less than 5 per cent nationally.Google Scholar

42. An important footnote to this map, and to all discussion about the geographical distribution of immigrants in Italy based on official registrations, is the likelihood that the incidence of undocumented migrants is much higher in the South of Italy. This is because of the greater importance of the informal economy and the higher degree of precariousness of immigrant work.Google Scholar

43. For this, published data are available only for 31 December 1994; see Bonifazi, , L'immigrazione straniera in Italia, pp. 167–9.Google Scholar

44. Knights, Melanie and King, Russell, ‘The geography of Bangladeshi migration to Rome’, International Journal of Population Geography, 4, 4, 1998, pp. 299–321.Google Scholar

45. dell'Agnese, Elena, ‘Profughi politici e rifugiati economici in Italia: il doppio esodo albanese del 1991’, in Gentileschi, Maria Luisa and King, Russell (eds), Questioni di popolazione in Europa: una prospettiva geografica. Pàtron, Bologna, 1996, pp. 69–81.Google Scholar

46. See Liegro, Luigi Di, Immigrazione: un punto di vista, Edizioni Sensibili alle Foglie, Rome, 1997; also his periodic introductory essays in the annual Caritas dossiers—for example, Luigi Di Liegro, ‘Immigrazione: al di là dell'emergenza’, in Caritas di Roma, Immigrazione dossier statistico '96, Anterem, Rome, 1996, pp. 7–12.Google Scholar

47. See Zincone, Giovanna, ‘The political rights of immigrants in Italy’, New Community, 20, 1, 1993, pp. 131–45.Google Scholar

48. Bossi, Umberto, Vento del Nord: la mia Lega, la mia vita, Sperling & Kupfer, Milan, 1992.Google Scholar

49. Cheles, Luciano, ‘The Italian Far Right: nationalist attitudes and views on ethnicity and immigration’, in Hargreaves, Alex and Leaman, John (eds). Racism, Ethnicity and Politics in Contemporary Europe, Edward Elgar, Aldershot, 1995, pp. 159–75, p. 170.Google Scholar

50. It has recently changed its name to DS, Democratici di Sinistra.Google Scholar

51. Plenty of evidence exists to support the contention that Italian public opinion perceives immigration in an increasingly negative light. An Institute of Population Research survey in 1987–8 indicated that half of Italians thought that there were too many foreigners living in Italy. When the survey was repeated in 1991 the proportion had risen to three-quarters. Another survey carried out in 1991, this time by the Doxa Institute, showed that 61 per cent of respondents felt that there were only or mainly disadvantages to immigration, and 41 per cent of Italians thought that the biggest disadvantage was that ‘foreigners take away jobs from Italians’. See Bonifazi, Corrado, ‘Italian attitudes and opinions towards foreign migrants and migration policies’, Studi Emigrazione, 29, 105, 1992, pp. 21–41.Google Scholar

52. Law 40, commonly referred to as the Turco–Napolitano law.Google Scholar

53. Bonetti, Paolo, ‘La nuova legge italiana sull'immigrazione’, Studi Emigrazione, 35, 129, 1998, pp. 137–49.Google Scholar

54. Fondazione Cariplo-ISMU, Quarto rapporto sulle migrazioni 1998, Franco Angeli, Milan, 1999.Google Scholar

55. Balbo, Laura, ‘Oltre l'antirazzismo facile’, Democrazia e Diritto, 6, 1989, pp. 90–106.Google Scholar

56. Marletti, Carlo, ‘Mass media e razzismo in Italia’, Democrazia e Diritto, 6, 1989, pp. 107–25.Google Scholar

57. Fekete, Liz and Webber, Frances, Inside Racist Europe, Institute of Race Relations, London, 1994.Google Scholar