Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku International Multiculturalism Centre Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Textbook for Higher Education

7.11. Multiculturalism in Italy

Italy is one of the largest states in southern Europe with a population of 58 million. Unlike other European countries, Italy has a higher birth rate and natural population growth. In ancient times Italy was home to many aboriginal peoples, known as the Italic peoples, who were not connected linguistically or ethnically. Greeks arrived as colonists, while many peoples residing there belonged to other Indo-European groups (Ligures, Venetics, Lepontics, Messapians) or to non-Indo-European language groups (Etruscans, Raeti). As a result of occupations, active colonization and a policy of assimilation of the local population, the Romans became the main population in the European part of the Roman Empire. The Roman population of the Italian province became the base of the formation of the modern Italian nation.

Today the main ethnic group is Italian. National minorities have lived in substantial numbers in certain areas of Italy for many centuries. For example, the Friuli live in Friuli–Venezia Giulia region, while over 200,000 Ladins live in Trentino-Alto Adige region, who are related to the Friuli terms of language, speaking one of the High German dialects of the region. There are Francophone groups (4,500 people) in Piedmont in the north-west of the country. Slovenians and Croatians live in the smaller regions bordering former Yugoslavia. There is another smaller Croatian group (4,500) in Molise in southern Italy. There are Albanian colonies with a

population of about 80,000 in southern Italy and on the island of Sicily, and Greeks (30,000) in southern Italy and Catalans (15,000) in north-western Sardinia (Alghero). The population of San Marino also consists of Italians (15,000).

The Republic of Italy is one of the European states to enshrine the protection of minority languages in its Constitution – Article 6 says ‘The republic safeguards linguistic minorities through appropriate norms’. The law also recognizes as linguistic minorities the Albanians, Catalans, Greeks, Germans, Slovenians, Croatians, and the Franco-Provencal people, Friuli, Ladins, Occitanians, and Sardinians who use French.

The Constitution also reflects ethno-confessional issues: ‘The State and the Catholic Church are, each within its own order, independent and sovereign. Their relations are regulated by the Lateran Treaties,’ and ‘All religious confessions are equally free before the law. Religious confessions other than Catholicism have the right to organise in accordance with their own statutes, in so far as they are not in conflict with Italian laws. Their relations with the State are regulated by law on the basis of agreement between the respective representatives.’

Rome’s sensitive response to modernization and its stra­tegy of ‘purifying Christianity’ allowed Italian Catholicism to be protected from the manifestations of anti-clericalism and consequences of modernisation. Though all the European countries have been subject to secularization, the degree of impact has been different in each country. Italy was an exception in this sense. Unlike other states, that encountered modernism unarmed, Italy had its own strategy of modernization of the church.

There are some ethnic minorities in the south of Italy that still preserve their religious identities. Greek and Russian immigrants have preserved Orthodoxy in Italy in the last two centuries.

Section III

Chapter 7

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Azerbaijani Multiculturalism

Muslim immigrants have helped to form the country’s Muslim community. Most of the Muslim immigrants in Italy are from Asia and Africa. According to different sources, between 1.2 and 1.6 million Muslims live in Italy, about 2.5 per cent of the population.

The difference in figures can be explained by the fact that some migrants are living illegally in the country. Approximately two-thirds of them are Moroccans and some 100,000 are from Tunisia. The rest are Egyptian, Bangladeshi, Senegalese, Pakistani and Nigerian. Some 10,000 Muslims are Italians, who have adopted Islam. Most Muslims are Sunni, while there are 15,000 Shia.

The creation of Muslim communities in the heart of the Catholic world has not been universally welcomed. There is always a polemic between the supporters and opponents of Islam. The second generation of Italian Muslims speaks fluent Italian, as they study in Italy. Nevertheless, the majority of them remain committed to the national and traditional values of their parents, which prevents their integration into Italian society. It should be said, however, that for a long time Italy has been a major ‘supplier’ of emigrants.

Azerbaijani multiculturalism could also ‘conquer’ Italy in the Year of Multiculturalism. A branch of Baku International Multiculturalism Centre opened in the Italian capital Rome on 15 March 2016. It is headed by Sandro Teti, Italian publisher and politician.