What Does It Take to Be a TRUE Italian?

I just finished reading a fascinating book called Class of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio, written by Amara Lakhous. If you are a lover of Italian literature and even slightly intrigued by immigration into Italy this book is for you. Written in the form of a libro giallo, known as a mystery novel, the book presents interrogations from the various residents of a building in Piazza Vittorio as the police investigate the death of a man found in the elevator in the building. Each character interviewed has their own strange theory about the murder but what is even more fascinating is the diversity of the characters that Lakhous presents to the reader. Most of the characters in the novel are immigrants and refugees who have carved out their lives in this bustling piazza. They each have their own vivid cultural experiences that they reveal even as they share their prejudices of the other tenants in the building. As the story progresses, the reader discovers that the suspect of the murder, Amedeo, is in fact an immigrant like many of the other characters. Most of the tenants in the building are shocked to discover the truth behind this man's identity and when they do a number of them quickly turn from his defense to condemning him.

The way that the other tenants turn on Amedeo highlights the prejudice of foreigners that is not only characteristic of many Italians but of the foreigners themselves who have come to build a new life in Italy. This prejudice found in these characters points to the natural tendencies that we human beings feel towards those we categorize as "other". What surprised me in this novel was not the prejudice shown towards foreigners but the way in which so many had misinterpreted Amedeo's origins as a native Italian?

Why was this? Amedeo didn't have false documents, he didn't go around claiming that he was not Italian. His wife in the novel was fully aware of his origins. So how could such a misunderstanding happen? 

Amedeo's mistaken identity was caused first and foremost from his ability to speak the Italian language. Yes, that's right. The fact that Amedeo was such a fluent speaker in Italian led even the native Italians to believe that he had been born in their country. Add to that his respect for Italian culture, his awareness of the country's history and politics, and it could easily appear that someone who appears so in tune with their country of residence could be none other but a native-born citizen. 

The questions of identity raised in this book lead me to ponder what it takes to be a full Italian. If the truth had never been revealed, most of Amedeo's neighbors might have lived the rest of their lives under the impression that Amedeo was a natural-born citizen of Italy. Why is it such a problem for him to be a foreigner? Why is his knowledge of the country and the language only validated by the location of his birth? 

This leads me to direct you to a documentary called 18 Ius Soli that came out in 2012 highlighting the lives of teens who have lived most or all of their lives in Italy and have yet to be recognized as Italian citizens. 

   

The people interviewed in this documentary talk about how they can have spent their whole lives in the country, how they know the food, know the language, how they have only ever studied in Italian schools, and how somehow they are still not considered Italian citizens under the law. They must wait until they are 18 to even begin the long process of claiming citizenship, and even then it is not guaranteed. 

This is not to say that nothing has changed. Just this year, the Italian government passed a law called Ius soli temperato, which allows children of foreigners to claim their rights to citizenship much more easily than before, if they can make it past the list of requirements and stipulations. 

How is it that neither the law nor the people of a country can recognize the people around them the way they deserve to be recognized? Why must a person who cares just as deeply for their country as someone else be excluded just because of their parent's country of origin? 

And the biggest question of all: how do we enact change? How do we make it possible for children of immigrants to feel safe and comfortable within the country they know and have grown up in? The people of Italy must open their hearts and their minds to those around them. If the law is still not willing to protect these children, then citizens must rise up to guide the government in a better direction.