Essay , | 12/20/2025 : Don Camillo and Peppone North of the Alps

In the wake of World War II and Italy’s easing of the more restrictive emigration policies enacted under fascism, the freedom to emigrate and the protection of Italian workers abroad became enshrined in the country’s constitution under Article 35. These liberal attitudes were in fact motivated by the economic and social interests of Italy’s ruling political class, who thought migration could improve the country’s struggling economy and its high levels of unemployment. What is more, the Italian state had to contend with land occupations in the south immediately after the war, which were met with repressive measures. Agricultural reforms that were initiated in 1950 but only partially implemented failed to resolve the “Southern Question”, instead triggering a wave of further redundancies in the farming sector. 

Once migration had been established as a “safety valve” to ease social conflict, the Italian government began to publicly encourage citizens to emigrate. At the time, the Christian Democrat prime minister Alcide De Gasperi (1881–1954) called on Southern Italian farmers to “Go out into the world again!” as well as “Learn a language and go abroad!” And so, under Italy’s initiative, negotiations between Italy and Germany regarding the recruitment of Italian workers began in 1952. In December 1955, the two nations signed a bilateral recruitment agreement that led to the migration of thousands of Italians in the years that followed.

These new arrivals brought their own customs and “traditions” from Italy. Active in countries, including Germany, where the immigrants settled, the Italian organizations reflected (and still reflect) the conditions of Italian society, which was shaped by a Catholic and a Communist/socialist culture. Both groups had been active in the Italian resistance movement (la Resistenza) and after 1945 made a significant contribution to the distinctly social content of the Italian constitution. Given these circumstances, it was only natural that, alongside the Italian Catholic Mission (Missione Cattolica), Italy’s left-wing political parties and the country’s trade unions, who also organized community support, were very active. However, as we will later see, regional clubs also played a crucial role.

A “Little Italy” of Organizations

Pierre Bourdieu saw social capital as “the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships” that includes family, friends, colleagues but also membership of organizations.[1] In other words, social capital is passed on through social relationships (networks and associations).

But leaving Italy meant migrants were separated from their own social networks, i.e. their social capital, be it connections to family networks or (semi-)formal institutions, which they needed to find ways to completely rebuild in Germany.

Unlike in other Italian migrant communities, e.g. in North America, Italians were not heavily concentrated in certain neighbourhoods in Germany, which is why the country never had its own Little Italy. But if we look at the creation and presence of Italian organizations in Germany, we could argue that there was something akin to a “substitute Little Italy” created in a diaspora of Italian institutions. 

The first institution to offer Italian migrants social counselling and spiritual guidance during the 1950s was the Catholic Church, which acted via the German Caritas Association and the Missioni Cattoliche. From the very beginning of the massive wave of overseas migration in the nineteenth century, the Catholic Church took charge of supporting Italian migrants through its missions, especially when they were emigrating to Protestant countries or regions and were at risk of being influenced by the Protestant ways of their new homelands (in terms of who they married, for instance). At the same time, the Church feared that migrants would be more susceptible to secularist and socialist ideas, which could then take hold in Italy upon their return.

Italian trade unions and labour organizations also became involved via their patronati (welfare organizations), which in turn further entrenched the dividing line between Christian and Communist/socialist ideologies among immigrants.

The Missioni Cattoliche thus organized an array of activities that were aimed at helping immigrants suffering financial hardship, such as in finding housing. When the children of Italian migrants began having difficulties at school, the Catholic Missions helped create the Federazione Associazioni Italiane degli Emigrati in Germania (Federation of Italian Migrant Associations in Germany, FAIEG). Arising from the needs of parents, the federation was predominantly composed of parent and family groups and promoted Christian views while considering itself to be politically pluralistic. It is no coincidence that FAIEG championed a bilingual school model in Germany.

From the 1960s, Italian trade unions and labour organizations also became involved via their patronati (welfare organizations), which in turn further entrenched the dividing line between Christian and Communist/socialist ideologies among immigrants. The organizations that were and remain particularly active are: the Christian Association of Italian Workers (ACLI) and its patronato; CGIL, a union associated with the then Communist Party of Italy and its patronato INCA-CGIL; the UIL and its charitable arm l’ITAL-UIL (which was associated with the Italian Socialist Party); as well as the more Christian-Democrat-leaning CISL and its patronato INAS-CISL. ACLI and CGIL also offered their own vocational training services (abbreviated to ENAIP and ECAP respectively), which provided vocational training courses both in Italy and countries to which Italians had migrated.

The Italian unions and their welfare organizations maintained relationships with the German Trade Union Confederation and Germany’s individual trade unions (and continue to do so), while ACLI mainly cooperates with Caritas and the German Catholic Workers’ Movement (KAB). Once Gastarbeiter (guest workers) were also allowed to stand for election to works councils, German trade unions presented some of them with their first opportunity to become upwardly mobile.

Italian Parties Discover Emigrants

When Italian political parties realized, during the 1960s, they could also cater to Italians abroad, the latter stopped simply being “recipients of aid” and instead became “political subjects”. Italian parties opened foreign offices in Germany and founded their own organizations aimed at representing and defending the interests of migrants. Of the many Italian parties, the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) were particularly well organized and active. Both parties ran their own migrant organizations: the PSI founded the Fernando Santi Institute in 1970, while the PCI opened the Italian Confederation of Migrant Workers and Their Families (FILEF).

The latter was founded in the mid-1960s by painter and doctor Carlo Levi[2] and the left-wing Calabrian intellectual Paolo Cinanni. It promotes itself as a group of democrats and anti-fascists of varying persuasions. Another organization that was active abroad was the neo-fascist Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI) with its international arm Comitato Tricolore Italiani nel Mondo(abbreviated to CTIM; the name loosely translates to “Tricolore Committee of Italians Abroad”). The party had its own publishing house in Stuttgart, where it printed a newspaper titled Oltreconfine (Beyond the Border).

Transformations within the community and changing face of Italian immigration over the last two decades have seen these associations turn their attention to other areas.

However, as these parties saw Italian migrants as potential voters, their work was primarily focused on mobilizing support for Italian elections. As a result, they were more interested in maintaining contact to the homeland than integrating these Gastarbeiter into German society. It was especially during this period that Italy witnessed significant social and political struggles that would go on to shape the country for years to come. In light of these shifts, the 5 million Italians living abroad were considered a huge tranche of voters and a social force that could not be ignored, despite the fact that only a handful actually returned to Italy to cast their vote (Italian electoral law only permitted in-person voting).

The organizations associated with the Communist Party, in particular, organized treni rossi (red trains) during Italian elections to transport voters back to Italy. Over the years, these networks that are at once ethnic, political, and social have seen their influence wane, partly as a result of political upheavals in Italy during the early 1990s when some parties (PCI, PSI, DC, and MSI) disappeared and new ones came on the scene (Lega Nord, National Alliance, the parties of Silvio Berlusconi, etc.) or moved in a new direction with a new structure under a new name (such as the Democratic Party).[3]

Regional Associations and Economic Interest Groups

During the early 1970s, multiple circoli (clubs) and associazioni (associations) were founded by Italian regions. Members of these clubs shared the same regional heritage. The consular authorities and the Church supported the creation of these organizations as they believed they would be an outlet for built-up political tensions and their explosive potential. In addition to Sardinian, Puglian, Sicilian and Calabrian circoli, Germany was also home to internationally active associations, such as Friulani nel Mondo (Friulians of the World), Trentini nel Mondo (Trentinos of the World) and Lucchesi nel Mondo (Lucchese of the World), Associazione Emilia-Romagna, Siciliani nel Mondo (Sicilians of the World), and Südtiroler in der Welt (South Tyroleans in the World). These associations mainly organize leisure and sport activities as well as folklore events. Certain groups, such as the Sardinians and the Friulians, who are recognized as a linguistic minority in Italy, place a great deal of importance on protecting their language and culture.

Transformations within the community and changing face of Italian immigration over the last two decades have seen these associations turn their attention to other areas. Some of them decided to focus more heavily on cultural activities. However, in recent years, these associations are increasingly receiving requests for help from a new generation of migrants who, as in the past, have left Italy because of economic hardship. The organizations’ regional links and history make it possible to distinguish between Christian and secular associations. For instance, the associations from regions such as Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige/South Tyrol, Friuli-Venezia Giulia or Sicily, which were governed by the Christian Democrats for decades after 1945, tend to be focused on Christian values and be members of the umbrella organization National Union of Immigrant and Emigrant Associations (UNAIE). Others — for instance those representing regions that were governed by the Communist or Socialist parties after the war, such as associations from Emilia-Romagna — are generally more secular and prefer to work in partnership with FILEF.[4]

Berlin offered young Italians an escape from the confines of the Italian provinces: it was a place where they could explore alternative lifestyles.

As an “Italian economy” began to develop and become established in West Germany, Italian business owners founded their own organizations that were active both nationally and transnationally. One such example are Italian ice cream makers, who set up their own organization, the Union of Italian Ice Cream Makers (UNITEIS) in the late 1960s. Based in Frankfurt am Main, UNITEIS organizes an annual trade show, the Mostra Internazionale del Gelato, in Longarone (Veneto) as well as training courses in Italy and Germany that are hosted in partnership with various chambers of commerce.

As the pioneering and experimental period of Italian gastronomy came to an end in the early 1980s and some of the sector’s challenges became more visible, such as issues with qualifications, professionalization, and quality, Italian restaurateurs tried to shake off their penchant for individualism and founded the association Ciao Italia with the support of left-wing Christian Democrat politician Bartolo Ciccardini. Here too it is possible to differentiate between “traditional” and “alternative” restaurant owners. While “traditional” restaurateurs were organized in Ciao Italia, a globally active organization, their “alternative” counterparts were more likely to be members of the slow-food movement, which grew out of the left-wing culture organization Associazione Ricreativa Culturale Italiana (Italian Recreational and Cultural Association, ARCI). The movement is an international network with members of different nationalities active across a range of sectors.

Despite this political division, the organizations were united in their shared commitment to representing the interests of Italian migrants. They joined forces in 1985 to bring about a legal reform to allow the Comitato degli Italiani all’Estero (Committee of Italians Abroad, Com.It.Es.) to be created as the official representative body for Italians abroad. This “miniature parliament” is set out in law and members are voted onto the committee by Italian migrants in their respective consular regions.[5] Here too we can see differences based on migration patterns and various social classes as well as political affiliations.

Berlin and the Italian Left

During the division of Germany, migrants were drawn to West Berlin’s liberal, open-minded, and avant-garde atmosphere. But Berlin also played an important role politically: the city’s dividing wall made it a vivid symbol of the Cold War and the separation between the two global powers that Churchill referred to as the “Iron Curtain”. West Berlin acted like a seismograph of events playing out on the global political stage as well as changes taking place in society. This reality also had an impact on Berlin’s Italian population. The city thus became a stage for various Italian-born political activists.

The Italian migrants who moved to Berlin were markedly different from Italian migrants in the rest of West Germany, who were predominantly economic migrants. The specific political, cultural, and social characteristics of the places and regions in Germany appealed to different types of migrants, who with their various needs and lifestyles initiated a wide range of activities within the community and thus contributed to its diversity. Based on observations, I have identified the following migrant types that are associated with certain milieus: pioneers, economic migrants, rebels, postmodernists, and digital nomads.

Migrant type	Organizations
Pioneers	Catholic Mission (Circolo Cesare Orsenigo)
Economic migrants	Italian parties (PCI/PSI/MSI) Migrant associations affiliated with parties (Filef/Istituto Santi/Circolo Carlo Levi/CTIM)
Rebels	Non-parliamentary left (incl. Lotta Continua) Women’s initiatives
Postmodernists	Independent, often (inter)cultural organizations
Nomads	Virtual networks

Immediately after World War II, some of the Italians who had remained in Berlin — mostly former forced labourers or prisoners of war — brought their families over. This group can be considered the pioneers of Italian migration to Berlin. The first Italian economic migrants only came to Berlin in the mid-1960s, often after stints in West Germany. The financial aid that the Berlin Senate provided to migrant workers enticed Italians to the city, as did the Berlin-Zulage (an allowance paid by the central government to all workers in West Berlin). The decision to move to the large, anonymous city of Berlin also provided this migrant group with a sense of adventure and can be interpreted as a sign of independence and/or emancipation. In other words, migrants were drawn to Berlin not only for economic reasons but because of what it could offer young Italians from the provinces.

The late 1960s and the 1970s then saw the arrival of the rebels: young Italians, including many women, who as students were taken in by the “Berlin Myth” (i.e. the idea of the city as a backdrop for student protests). Berlin offered them an escape from the confines of the Italian provinces: it was a place where they could explore alternative lifestyles. In the 1980s, it was the myth surrounding Berlin’s Kreuzberg district and notably its squats and anarchist groups that enticed young Italians to West Berlin. Eschewing a 9-to-5 lifestyle, they earned a living doing odd jobs, teaching Italian, or working in restaurants and bars, as well as in alternative projects. 

Many students and intellectuals, who followed political developments in Italy with interest, were fascinated by the Italian Left, and the PCI’s German branch offered them a direct point of contact.

From the early 1980s, another migrant group came onto the scene: the postmodernists. They were young Italians who — like the rebels — often possessed considerable cultural capital. They created new businesses that were driven by innovation, even in traditional sectors such as the food services industry. Following German reunification, another wave of migrants arrived in Berlin that included Italian freelancers, journalists, managers, architects, and bank managers. Newly created exchange programmes between European universities (such as Erasmus) then encouraged the immigration of the nomads.

Traditional Italian parties, especially on the Left, have also been active in Berlin since the 1970s. For instance, the PCI held its Festa dell’Unità in the former canteen of Berlin’s Technical University, a place steeped in mythology for the Berlin Left which hosted several events and concerts organized by groups linked to the student movement in the 1970s and 1980s. The Communists hoped this move would help them reach out to students and win the group over to their cause. It was also a way for them to canvass for a European-wide left-wing political movement (Eurocommunism) among Berlin residents, both German and foreign.

During this period in particular, many students and intellectuals, who followed political developments in Italy with interest, were fascinated by the Italian Left, and the PCI’s German branch offered them a direct point of contact. As a result, many “multi-ethnic” initiatives were created in Berlin comprising left-wing migrant and German organizations and activists, among them the international Working Group of Young Socialists in the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

As the Communist Party of Italy had to grapple with internal divisions arising from shifts within the European Communist movement, Italy’s Socialist Party was able to exert significant influence on Italian associations in Berlin (in part due to its privileged relationship with the SPD). For instance, the Socialist Party’s representative in the city was, for many years, both president of several representative bodies as well as editor of Incontri – Zeitschrift für Italiener und Deutsche (a magazine for Italians and Germans) which had links to the Socialist Party. This magazine enabled the party to bring together a group of young (Italian and German) intellectuals who were interested in contributing to the publication. The same thing happened with Istituto Fernando Santi, which initiated and funded research projects on the conditions faced by Italian workers in the automotive and food services industries.

Migrant Associations and Women’s Groups

As we have already seen, Italy’s parties founded more migrant associations with the aim of increasing their influence. One such example is Circolo Carlo Levi, which was founded by members of the PCI in Berlin’s Schöneberg district in the early 1970s. The circolo had several premises, including a bar, an event room, and a library that housed Italian works of fiction as well as academic works (primarily history texts). The association was able to acquire these through a special fund created by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and distributed by the Italian Consulate. At the end of the 1980s, a video player was purchased for the library so that Italian films could be shown in their original language and sports events could be viewed publicly.

Circolo Carlo Levi was the headquarters of migrant association FILEF as well as Unione Donne Italiane(UDI), a women’s group. The Italian Communist Party also held meetings and party conferences here. One of these groups would usually hold discussions or meetings in the space during weekday evenings, and the circolo would normally be open during weekends as well. Activists or supporters of the party or the various groups would take turns running the site; for instance, they would organize a regular kitchen duty. Food and drink were not only sold to make the space more socially appealing but also to help fund the club.

The circolo was also a place for older or isolated migrants to escape weekend loneliness. It was somewhere they could meet with fellow Italians, eat more cheaply than in a restaurant, and enjoy a glass of wine over a game of cards. Some weekends, someone would play the accordion and old Italian classics and folk songs would be sung.

In a sense, the story of Circolo Carlo Levi is also the story of how the PCI, Berlin’s Italian community, and the city itself changed over the years that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. Berlin’s unique status as a divided city that symbolized the Cold War also confronted left-wing Italian organizations, especially the PCI, with certain restrictions. At the same time, the internal conflicts and factional struggles among (and within) the political organizations reflect the conflicts between “traditional” and “imported” leaders.

Until the 1980s, the PCI and its affiliated organizations in Berlin were affected by clashes between the “right wing” of the party, who were loyal to Moscow and dominated for many years, and a “liberal left-wing” faction, which included members who held more social democratic views. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and events in other “real socialist” countries in central and eastern Europe inevitably left their mark on Italian Communists. Subsequent discussions about the future of the party led to permanent division, both in Italy and in Berlin. Overall, this development meant the gradual end of Circolo Carlo Levi. In spring 1993, the club, which had become an institution within the Italian community over the years, had to close its doors for good.

The two most important organizations that were based at the circolo from the 1980s onwards were FILEF, which underwent a complete transformation both in terms of its staff and its objectives after 1992, and Unione Donne Italiane a Berlino e.V (The Italian Women’s Union in Berlin, UDI), which became a registered association in the mid-1980s. Its members were the wives of economic migrants who patronized the circolo, as well as some Italian women who had come to Berlin for other reasons. Other members included German women or women of other nationalities who were married to Italians. The last two groups in particular initiated a range of activities, while the former were primarily their clientele and target group.

As an alternative to the Christmas party, which the Italian Consulate organized for Italian children for a number of years, as well as similar Christian festivals put on by the Catholic Mission, FILEF hosted children’s carnival parties together with Circolo Carlo Levi.

The UDI organized sewing and swimming courses, seminars on health issues as well as German classes. They also provided outreach work that made a difference to female migrants’ daily lives, such as accompanying women to doctor’s appointments or to the job centre. As many of these women did not speak German well or lacked detailed knowledge of German bureaucracy, this “service” was incredibly important. With financial support from the Berlin Senate, the UDI published a brochure titled Le donne dove a Berlino, which detailed women’s initiatives and other institutions in Berlin.

In the early 1990s, the UDI ceased its activities after disputes between “old” and “new” migrants led to insurmountable problems. The younger female migrants wanted the UDI to focus more on feminist issues and autocoscienza (self-awareness) and also wanted to move the association out of the circolo building and into a German feminist women’s centre. The “older” UDI activists realized that the immigrants they had worked hard to win over and whose awareness of the circolo’s services represented a step towards self-reliance, or even an act of “liberation”, would not feel comfortable in a German women’s centre partly due to the language barrier but also because of the arrogance shown by supposedly “enlightened” German feminists. This also meant that the old clientele, who were used to coming to the circolo with their husbands and children to meet up with friends and who had little interest in “feminist self-discovery”, gradually stopped coming.

Migrant organization FILEF primarily offered immigrants advice, for instance concerning pensions, and organized seminars and information events in cooperation with a range of German and Italian organizations. These events not only dealt with issues that were relevant to immigrants (such as services offered by Italy’s various regions to support and reintegrate returning migrants or voting rights for foreigners) but also matters concerning the situation and developments in Germany. When heated debates between opposing sides in the nuclear energy debate began in Germany, they organized an information event with experts and politicians. Another event with trade unionists and job centre representatives in the late 1980s examined the labour market situation in Berlin and Germany.

FILEF also organized celebrations and trips to Italy for Italian children and teenagers. FILEF arranged these trips with the support of the relevant regional authority in Italy (predominantly in PCI/PSI governed regions such as Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany) and by a range of institutions that offered them rooms and funding to accommodate and cater for these young Italians while they were away. As an alternative to the Christmas party, which the Italian Consulate organized for Italian children for a number of years, as well as similar Christian festivals put on by the Catholic Mission, FILEF hosted children’s carnival parties together with Circolo Carlo Levi.

Italian Non-Parliamentary Opposition in Berlin

As previously mentioned, Berlin was a city heavily linked to the student movement and non-parliamentary opposition. Johannes Agnoli (1925–2003), a Pieve di Cadore-born professor of Italian origin, started out as an assistant before becoming professor of political theory at the legendary Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science at the Free University Berlin. In 1967, he co-authored with Peter Brückner perhaps the movement’s most significant text: Transformation der Demokratie (Transformation of Democracy). At the time, Agnoli was also a co-founder of the Republikanische Club (Republican Club, RC).

It was in this context that the Union der fortschrittlichen italienischen Emigranten (Union of Progressive Italian Migrants) was initiated, together with the Berlin-Wolfsburg working group, which published the newspaper L’emigrante in Lotta (Migrants in Struggle). The radical professor would offer these “struggling migrants” courses in political economics and Marxism at Berlin’s Technical University. At weekends, the group, which comprised Italian workers and students as well as German “comrades”, would travel to Wolfsburg where the Volkswagen plant was located to campaign among and help organize the Italian workers, many of whom were still living in barracks. 

New arrivals from Italy created new forms of social engagement. They pursued their own initiatives and founded other organizations that better met their social and cultural needs as well as interests, along with loose alliances that frequently interacted with other cultural groups.

There were also a few young people who had been involved in non-parliamentary left-wing groups in Italy, such as Lotta Continua (Continuous Struggle) and Democrazia Proletaria (Proletarian Democracy), and who applied for jobs at Berlin factories to be able to move to the city of the “student revolts”. In the mid-1970s, some of them set up a Casa di Cultura Popolare (House of Popular Culture) with the aim of preserving and spreading a “different”, alternative left-wing culture among immigrants and German friends, which they did by organizing various activities and political as well as cultural engagement.

In 1976, rock group Gli Straccioni (The Rags) appeared on the scene, performing at events organized by left-wing groups, e.g. at the Technical University’s old canteen. Towards the end of the 1970s, a couple of people from this left-wing scene opened the legendary Osteria No. 1 restaurant in Kreuzberg, which became a meeting place for the alternative and multinational left. 

Camillos and Peppones No More

The arrival of Italian migrants also saw the expansion of Italian organizations to Germany that mostly reflected the socio-cultural and political dynamics of Italian society, with Catholic organizations, left-wing political parties, trade unions, and regional expat associations. Despite ideological differences, all these organizations joined forces in the 1980s to create the constitution of the Comitati Italiani all’Estero (Italian Committees Abroad), essentially institutionalizing the representation of Italian migrants. 

On the other hand, we can also see that new arrivals from Italy created new forms of social engagement. They pursued their own initiatives and founded other organizations that better met their social and cultural needs as well as interests, along with loose alliances that frequently interacted with other cultural groups. These associations not only targeted their own ethnic group, but focused their activities on the wider scene in which they were involved. This illustrates that the Italian community in Germany became increasingly diverse, which also means that Italian migrants can no longer be so easily divided into Don Camillos and Peppones.[6]

This article originally appeared in the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s edited volume, Der lange Marsch der Migration. Translated by Nivene Raafat and Shane Anderson for Gegensatz Translation Collective.