لماذا لا يُعترف بالإسلام في إيطاليا؟

The situation highlighted in Works That Touch and photographic projects like Nicolò Degiorgis's Hidden Islam touches on a unique legal and cultural reality in Italy.

While the Italian Constitution guarantees the freedom to practice any religious faith, Islam lacks an official Intesa (state agreement or concordat) with the Italian government. In Italy, such official agreements regulate the relationship between the state and religious groups, granting benefits like tax provisions, access to chaplains in prisons and hospitals, and the right to build official places of worship with distinct architectural elements like minarets.

Because securing this formal recognition has faced bureaucratic hurdles, political resistance, and a lack of a unified representative body for Italy's diverse Muslim population, communities have had to adapt. To gather for Friday prayers, community events, and education, Muslims across the country have creatively repurposed non-traditional spaces—turning former warehouses, industrial sheds, shuttered supermarkets, garages, and cultural centers into makeshift mosques.

These spaces often blend into ordinary commercial or industrial districts, functioning quietly as vital community anchors despite the administrative and zoning hurdles that prevent the construction of traditional, purpose-built mosques.