ABSTRACT
Citizenship has both formal and substantive dimensions: on one hand, there is the definition of who is, and can become, a citizen and the civil, political and social rights legally attached to that status; on the other hand, there is the distribution and exercise of those rights in practice, which usually produce invidious distinctions between citizens who are formally equal. The development of citizenship in Italy as an idea and practice has historically been hampered by the political and cultural barriers to features which have underpinned the growth of citizenship elsewhere: a sense of nationhood, thriving economy and confidence in state institutions. However, the emergence of Italy as an increasingly multicultural and Europeanized society in the 1990s has made the definition and content of citizenship a renewed concern.
