Immigration in Italy

[Photo from Google Images]

Next week we're going to speak about immigration with our American peers. It's a quite ticklish question in our country. Countries like America and England have been experienced immigration for many and many years...On the contrary, here in Italy it's a relatively new phenomenon. According many Italians, it seems to be a sort of calamity!

Studying foreign languages, I learned to be open-minded and not to reject people who are different. I definitely think that the difference is a quality and everybody can learn a lot from someone else. The comparison and relationship with a person with a different culture is a way to understand who we are and what we really believe in. All relationships enriches you and all cultures are as important as the Italian one.

I think that in Italy there's a lot of confusion about the issue. Too many Italians judge on the basis of stereotypes and don't look beyond their nose. If you ask people who an immigrant is, they immediately say that an immigrant is a Moldavian or a Rumanian or a black man. And what about Spanish or American or English or French people in Italy? Are not they immigrants? I'm quite sure that many Italians would answer that a Spanish man in Italy isn't an immigrant. That's why I say that there's too much confusion and that too many people speak without being well informed about the issue.

Anyway, something is changing in Italy. When so many foreign people arrive, the social balance changes. And as always, changes create panic in people. But I think that it's only a transitional phase and that with some clever immigration laws Italy could find its feet in this multiethnic society. At least, I hope so.

Martina