La nationalité/citoyenneté italienne : « familiste » mais non « culturelle » ?

This text proposes an analysis of Italian nationality law, of its development, and of its proposed reforms. The analysis is completed with qualitative research on the conceptions of citizenship and nationality among migrants and local factory workers. Italian nationality law is often considered as an “ethnic” law, but the analysis shows that, while the law is restrictive towards immigrants and favorable towards emigrants, there are very few norms in the law that are explicitly based on ethnic belonging or on cultural competence. Law proposals have tried to introduce cultural competence tests for the immigrants, but they have more rarely made reference to ethnicity, and the qualitative interviews show an economic conception of citizenship and nationality, rather than a cultural one, among the population.