Islam in Italy: the “public enemy”

The aim of this paper is to illustrate how Islamic religion has become a conflict factor in Italy for the past 20 years, in concomitance with the increase of migration from Muslim countries, that has led to public debate on how Islam as a religion is outside the Italian society, its values and Constitutional principles. In this narrative the Muslim population is being accused of lack of loyalty, which for many is more to their faith (and to the Islamic law, Sharia) than the State where they are living, in this case Italy and furthermore they are -according also to this view - reluctant to integrate in the society due the fact they would prefer to maintain their “Islamic” identity, traditions and original culture