New Cultures of Italian Migration

Europe is facing one of the worst migration crisis in decades. The destabilization of the Middle East brought thousands of refugees to the European shores. The central position of Italy and its physical conformation made it the European outpost of illegal landings. Italy was traditionally a land of emigration, millions of Italians left the peninsula for North American, South American and Australia but also for European destinations like Germany that welcomed them, and other ethnic groups, particularly Turkish people as Gastarbeiter. This migration was meant to be temporary and to satisfy a lack of unskilled workers that could be temporarily employed in German factories. Thousands of these workers ended up staying in Germany and are now an integral part of the German society. Italy is a new nation of immigration and only in the last few decades the homogenous cultural and linguistic map of Italy is being modified thanks to the contribution given by second generations Italian that recently protested against the government that does not recognize them as Italian citizens. Using as reference the groundbreaking work of Graziella Parati on migration literature I will pinpoint the literary production of immigrants who write in Italian against the background of the recent migration crisis that is inciting a climate of xenophobia and populism across Europe. A multicultural society is emerging in Italy, and many Italians feel menaced and react to what they consider an attack to the Italian culture supporting reactionary movements that defend a monocultural idea of Italy.