Being Muslims in Italy: New Opportunities and Old Challenges

This study analyses whether Italian Muslims are considered to be a threat by Italian society. It attempts to verify the major lines of conflict in the relationship between Islam and the Italian society, by tradition culturally connected to Catholicism. The study investigates different patterns of relationship between Catholic Italians and Muslim Italians in different Italian regions on the base of the national survey “La nuova religiosità in Italia” [The new religiosity in Italy] (2007). By research data we detect regions with a high potential for conflicts and regions where we observe more acceptance of Islam as well as better basis for societal cohesion and cooperation.