Questions about defining Italian identity have intensified in Italy against the backdrop of growing Islamophobia. During a speech to young supporters of the Brothers of Italy party in Rome, Giorgia Meloni emphasized that Italian children should not feel like a minority in Italian classrooms.
The Meloni government approved a ban on wearing burqas and niqabs in schools and announced a 30 percent restriction on children without Italian citizenship or with low knowledge of the Italian language in primary, middle, and high school. Meloni characterized these measures as 'tools of common sense that do not divide, but truly help integrate.'
These statements came amid expected national elections in 2027, where immigration, Islam, and national identity have once again become central themes of political struggle on the right wing.
Who has the right to be Italian?
Meloni's speech and the adopted legislation immediately raised practical questions about who is considered a 'foreigner' and who is an Italian. Italy already has guidelines setting a cap of 30 percent for students without Italian citizenship. The distinction between 'Italian' and 'foreign' children is largely determined by citizenship, not place of birth or residence.
Italy's citizenship system is based predominantly on descent: children born in the country to non-Italian parents generally do not receive automatic Italian citizenship. Consequently, children born and living their entire lives in Italy may officially remain citizens of another state. Meloni's intervention was not an isolated incident.
Mosque in Mestre
Last week, near a school in Mestre, on the mainland opposite Venice, in an area with a large Bangladeshi community, a poster appeared with the inscription 'Your integration is our ruin.' In a neighboring public park used by Muslims for Friday prayers, inscriptions reading 'No to Islam' and Christian crosses were found on the ground and on a wooden structure.
These incidents occurred against the backdrop of a heated dispute over plans by members of the Mestre Bangladeshi community to build a permanent mosque and Islamic center on the site of a former sawmill. Although the community acquired the land, the project requires approval from local authorities. One fierce opponent of the project, Roberto Vannacchi from Futuro Nazionale, stated: 'We cannot allow an immigrant to become an Italian citizen so easily because then that citizen votes.'
Anna Maria Chisint, a Member of the European Parliament from the right-wing party Lega, is one of the loudest opponents of the project and has repeatedly spoken out against the construction of new mosques. In February, during a Lega protest near the proposed site in Mestre, Chisint declared that the mosque would not be built if her political camp remained in power. On the same Sunday that Meloni announced the school measures, Chisint appeared at the annual Lega rally in Pontide, a northern Italian town that hosts the party's symbolic gathering for decades.
She was supported by four activists from Nemesis, a French far-right group that calls itself feminist. The activists wore balaclavas, and when people in the audience and on stage chanted 'remove them,' the women took them off. Chisint stated at the rally: 'The threat comes from radical Islam. We will never let them Islamize our home. Never.'
This convergence was striking: in Rome, Meloni warned of the potential transformation of Italian children into a minority in classrooms; in Pontide, the coalition politician warned of the 'Islamization' of the country; and in Mestre, the mosque dispute was fueled by anti-Muslim slogans.
General Rebel
Simultaneously, another political force is attempting to occupy an even further right space. Roberto Vannacchi, a former army general, has become a national figure after publishing a book criticizing immigration, feminism, and LGBT rights. In 2024, he joined the European Parliament with Lega but later broke away from the party and founded Futuro Nazionale—a new far-right movement whose defining theme is 're-migration,' meaning the expulsion of migrants from Italy.
The party is gaining around eight percent in some opinion polls ahead of the next general elections, while Lega, led by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, has dropped below six percent. These figures intensify the battle for voters on the right flank of Italy and how far the policies of this side can advance regarding immigration and national identity.
Against this background, Vannacchi made one of his most candid statements about who should have the right to become Italian. Speaking at a city security conference organized by the police union in Turin on September 18, he argued that Italy should not simplify the process of obtaining citizenship for immigrants. Vannacchi stated: 'We cannot allow an immigrant to become an Italian citizen so easily because then that citizen votes. And when he votes, he votes not for the benefit of Italian citizens, but for his own benefit.'
When asked if he was simply worried that naturalized citizens would not vote for him, Vannacchi replied: 'I am not afraid that they will not vote for me. I am afraid that they will not vote for Italy.'
Who has the right to be Italian?
The arguments of the former general raise a fundamental question: what happens when a person born or raised in Italy effectively becomes Italian? Fioralba Duma, an activist from Italy and Albania with the campaign Italians Without Citizenship, told Middle East Eye that Meloni's remarks are particularly alarming because many children referred to as 'foreigners' have never known another country.
She noted: 'It is sad to realize how little attention the authorities pay to solving such important issues, and how little they do to protect children and ensure them equal opportunities.'
Ahmed Wall from the Roman Muslim Community noted: 'Our fight started 10 years ago—and for many people even earlier, but instead of reducing the number of people who are only foreigners on paper, this number continues to grow every year. Before, we spoke of recently arrived migrants. Today, we speak of the third generation: grandchildren of immigrants born in Italy.'
Duma's comments point to a contradiction becoming increasingly apparent in Italian political debates. Politicians may speak of 'foreign students' in classrooms, even if these students were born in Italy, spent their entire lives in the Italian education system, and can speak Italian as their native language.
Italian citizenship law remains largely based on the principle of *jus sanguinis*, or citizenship by descent. A referendum in June 2025 proposed reducing the period of legal residence required for non-European adults to apply for citizenship from 10 to five years. Approximately two-thirds of those who voted supported this proposal, but turnout was only about 30 percent, significantly below the 50 percent threshold required for the result to be valid.
Narrative of the Islamic Threat
Disputes surrounding the proposed mosque in Mestre demonstrate how these arguments are realized outside the classroom. Part of the city's large Bangladeshi community wants to turn the site of a former sawmill into a permanent Islamic center capable of accommodating up to 1500 worshippers. However, the project requires a change in the area's zoning, and the Mayor of Venice from the center-right, Simone Venturini, opposed the project.
Muslim organizations, in turn, accuse politicians of turning Islam into a political threat, focusing on issues that are only loosely related to the daily lives of Muslims in Italy. Ahmed Wall, president of the Roman Muslim Community, called Meloni's statement about the niqab 'propaganda.' He told MEE: 'We have never seen girls going to school in a niqab. It is a false problem.'
He added: 'Oil is approaching three euros per liter, and she talks about girls wearing niqabs in school, even though there are no such girls in school.'
Wall said his organization is ready to challenge discriminatory measures through the law, citing a complaint already filed against Lega deputy Silvia Sardone after she removed and confronted a woman in a niqab in Turin. Rula Mohamed, another activist from the Roman Muslim Community, described the situation more sharply, telling MEE that Islamophobia in Italy has reached 'extreme levels.'
Mohamed stated: 'What we see today is the extreme result of what has been cultivated for years.' In her view, this climate was shaped not only by the right wing but also by years of portraying Muslims in the media as dangerous and incompatible with Italian society. She added that this was exacerbated by the inability of much of the center-left wing to seriously counter Islamophobia.