DALLA TUNISIA VERSO L’ITALIA: STORIA, DINAMICHE ED EVOLUZIONE DELLE TRAIETTORIE MIGRATORIE A PARTIRE DAL CONFRONTO TRA MIGRAZIONI INTERNE E INTERNAZIONALI

The significant migratory flows from Tunisia to Italy and other European Union countries observed today originated in the mid-20th century. Specifically, Tunisia began to experience an increase in the international mobility of its population following its independence in 1956. It is no coincidence that the end of colonial rule coincided with a significant rise in departures from Tunisia. The French protectorate, starting from the 1930s, was marked by significant internal migration flows from rural areas to cities. This rural exodus, a consequence of the economic and social transformations triggered by the reforms introduced during the protectorate, posed a serious threat to the colonial order. To contain it, French authorities implemented a strict mobility control system that included both preventive and repressive measures. This regime remained in force until Tunisia's independence in 1956. The departure of French settlers and officials, along with the establishment of new state institutions, was seen by the citizens of the newly independent state as an unprecedented opportunity for social mobility. Many people moved to cities in search of employment, initiating a new wave of internal migration. However, due to the precarious economic situation, the labor market was unable to absorb a large portion of the workers. At that point, many Tunisians, matching labor demands from European countries, decided to move beyond national borders. These "new" departures, therefore, can be seen as a selection of internal migration patterns. The initial international migration trajectories were primarily directed toward France, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Federal Republic of Germany. However, during the same period, due to geographical proximity (as in the case of Tunisians in Sicily) and Italy’s cooperation policies (such as Tunisian students arriving in Italy through scholarships), Tunisian migration routes also extended to Italy. Initially considered by Italian institutions as an exceptional case limited to Sicily, the presence of Tunisians in Italy grew significantly over the years. From the mid-1970s onward, the oil shock and the subsequent closure of Northern European borders led increasing numbers of Tunisians to migrate to Italy. It was within this new context—marked by Italy’s early measures to regulate the entry and stay of foreigners and Tunisia’s liberalization policies, which exacerbated economic and social imbalances, making return to the North African country increasingly unattractive—that the Tunisian community (or communities) became more settled. In this thesis, archival sources have been used to reconstruct the policies of the protectorate, the Tunisian state, and the Italian state aimed at regulating, directing, or repressing migration. For each period, published sources provided both the national and international context, while oral sources, collected in Italy and Tunisia, were used to investigate the origins of migration networks, the dynamics of Tunisian accommodation within Italian society, and the emergence of new transnational identities between Italy and Tunisia.