Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
John Turturro's film
Passione
(2010) is a
Buena Vista Social Club
-style exploration of Naples' rich
and eclectic musical traditions. Spanning folk songs to contemporary tunes, it offers a fascin-
ating insight into the city's complex soul.
From Emigrants to Immigrants
From 1876 to 1976, Italy was a country of net emigration. With some 30 million Italian
emigrants dispersed throughout Europe, the Americas and Australia, remittances from
Italians abroad helped keep Italy's economy afloat during economic crises after Independ-
ence and WWII.
The tables have since turned. Political and economic upheavals in the 1980s brought
new arrivals from Central Europe, Latin America and North Africa, including Italy's
former colonies in Tunisia, Somalia and Ethiopia. More recently, waves of Chinese and
Filipino immigrants have given Italian streetscapes a Far Eastern twist. While immigrants
account for just 7.1% of Italy's own population today, the number is growing. Since the
2001 census, the country's foreign population (a number that excludes foreign-born
people who take Italian citizenship) has tripled from 1.3 million to around 4 million.
From a purely economic angle, these new arrivals are vital for the country's economic
health. While most Italians today choose to live and work within Italy, fewer are entering
blue-collar agricultural and industrial fields. Without immigrant workers to fill the gaps,
Italy would be sorely lacking in tomato sauce and shoes. From kitchen hands to hotel
maids, it is often immigrants who take the low-paid service jobs that keep Italy's tourism
economy afloat.
Despite this, not everyone is putting out the welcome mat. In 2010, the shooting of an
immigrant worker in the town of Rosarno, Calabria, sparked Italy's worst race riots in
years. Three years later in 2013, a top-level football match between AC Milan and Roma
was suspended after fans chanted racist abuse at Mario Balotelli, AC Milan's black,
Italian-born striker.
Yet not all Italians are comfortable with racist views. In May 2009, a radical law to
punish undocumented immigrants - including potential refugees - with summary deporta-
tion and fines was denounced by Italian human rights groups, the Vatican, the UN and
mass protests in Rome. As writer Claudio Magris observed in
The Times,
recalling Italy's
recent past as a nation of emigrants, 'We, above all, should know what it is like to be
strangers in a strange land.'
