Italian islamophobia: the church, the media and the xenophobic right

As in all European countries in the follow-up of 9/11, Italy experienced a rise of anti-Islamic racism among many cultural sectors. On the one hand, it can be argued that in all these countries there is a common matrix related to a durable and permanent structure of the European “imaginary”. On the other hand, beyond the apparent similarity of discourses, the increase in Islamophobic trends all over Europe hides national specificity towards Islam, therefore it can be argued that Islamophobia certainly refers to different cultural schemes depending on the specific political and cultural context of a country. In this way, I suppose there is not just one European form of Islamophobia, but rather various kinds of Islamophobias, perhaps as many as there are different traditions and legacies in dealing with Muslim communities. This chapter explains the distinctive features of discourses elaborated by Italian elites against Islam and Muslims.