Egyptians in Italy

Egyptians in Italy

Magdi Allam Stephan El Shaarawy Amir Issaa
Total population
(110,000 (ISTAT: 2016))
Regions with significant populations
Lombardy · Lazio · Piedmont[1]
Languages
Arabic (Egyptian Arabic), and Italian[2]
Religion
Majority of Sunni Islam and some Coptic Christianity

There is a significant community of Egyptians in Italy. As of 2006, Egypt's Ministry of Manpower and Emigration estimated that there were 210,000 Egyptians in Italy, making up roughly 41% of the 510,000 Egyptians in Europe and nearly triple the size of the next-largest community, namely Egyptians in the United Kingdom.

Migration history

As early as the 2nd century BC, there is strong evidence for an Egyptian presence in Italy, in various professions including bankers, surgeons, actors, musicians, fortune tellers, soldiers, slaves, and the like.^[3] In early modern times, after Napoleon's 1798-1801 Egypt Campaign, the degree of contact between Egypt and Europe began to increase again. In 1813, Egyptian leader Muhammad Ali sent an Egyptian mission to Italy to study printing arts.^[4]

However, the United Kingdom and France, rather than Italy, have been the preferred destinations for Egyptian expatriate academics and professionals; Italy, and especially Milan, tended to attract Egyptian businessmen and unskilled workers instead in the latter half of the 20th century.^[5] Even the exile to Italy of King Farouk of Egypt following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 did not have much effect on Egyptian migration to Italy.^[6]

Employment

Many Egyptians are employed in food-related industries, and in Milan have come to dominate traditionally Italian trades such as pizza and other baked products.^[6] Other Egyptian businesses in Milan include coffee shops, restaurants, and halal butchers.^[7]

Religion

The journalist Magdi Cristiano Allam

Egyptians in Italy are generally Muslim. Egyptian migrants increasingly prefer their children to maintain religious endogamy, especially in the case of their daughters.^[1] More than 27% of Egyptian citizens in Italy however are Coptic Christians, numbering 25,000 and are heavily concentrated in the Milan metropolitan area.

Notable Egyptians in Italy

• Magdi Allam (1952), journalist and politician
• Adel Smith (1960), founder of the Union of Italian Muslims
• Alessio Sakara (1981), mixed martial artist and boxer
• Omar Hassan (1987), artist
• Stephan El Shaarawy (1992), footballer

See also

• Arabs in Europe
• Arabs in Italy
• Moroccans in Italy
• Algerians in Italy
• Tunisians in Italy

References

Notes

1. Stocchiero 2004, p. 8
2. Zohry 2009, p. 17
3. Meyboom 1995, p. 345
4. Zohry 2009, p. 7
5. Zohry 2009, p. 8
6. Zohry 2009, p. 15
7. Zohry 2009, p. 16

Sources

• Meyboom, P. G. P. (1995), The Nile mosaic of Palestrina: early evidence of Egyptian religion in Italy, Religions in the Graeco-Roman world, 121, Brill, ISBN 978-90-04-10137-1
• Stocchiero, Andrea (May 2004), Fostering Egyptian local development through diasporic networks in Italy (PDF), Policy Papers, Rome: The Integrated Migration Information System Project
• Zohry, Ayman (2009), The Migratory Patterns of Egyptians in Italy and France (PDF), Research Report, 17, Euro-Mediterranean Consortium for Applied Research on International Migration