ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author centers on Italy’s uneasy transition from an emigration to an immigration country, with a particular focus on responses from both state and political actors to integration challenges. Through an historical reconstruction of some key phases of Italian responses to mass migration, she examines how institutional and political actors have failed to acknowledge the country’s transformation into a multiethnic society. The author explains that political leaders did not adequately address major immigration and integration challenges, and thus failed to respond to key questions that would have accompanied the processes of integration and facilitated the inclusion of immigrant and ethnic minorities in society. She argues that Italy’s response to immigration exhibits important similarities with developments currently taking place in other European countries. The author explores the slowness of the Left in understanding that immigration was going to significantly transform Italy. She concludes by comparing the Italian response to immigration with trends evident in other European countries.
