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Piedmont, Northern Italy
The protagonists
Chapter 5
Migration and Cultural
Encounters: Kosovar
Refugees in Italy
Giuseppe De Sario, Laura Corradi,
Patricia Ruiz, Enrica Capussotti
Many Kosovar Albanian refugees live and work in the region and
the city of Ivrea. Some of them have been in Italy since mid-
1998; others arrived after the NATO military intervention. Many managed
to find a house in one of the small towns of the area and have been able to
live in close contact with their relatives. Many are of the Islamic faith, and
come from the Suva Reka region, as was the situation of one family we
interviewed: Altin [age: 30, male], the eldest son, acted as interpreter during
the interviews held in Ivrea, as he has resided in Italy since the early
1990s. He first studied in Kosovo, and then at the University of Zagreb.
After 1992, the need to support his own family took him to various cities
in Italy, where he finally settled in Genoa. Alketa [age: 50, female] is
Altin’s mother. She reached Italy in the spring of 1999, together with her
sons and daughters, after a three-day flight from her home to Valona. Now
she, her husband, their two young daughters and another son also live in
Pavone d’Ivrea.
Like this family, Dritan [age: 29, male] also lives near Ivrea. He is from
the Suva Reka region, and he is Muslim. Following his eight years of com-
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