Italy’s team has failed to qualify for the World Cup for the third time in a row, thus missing the competition for 12 years. Samaha’s analysis moves from the recognition of the the lack of racial diversity in the team, and investigates the reason for its homogeneity by looking at socio-cultural and legal issues. Dr. Fiore contributed information about Italy’s immigration and emigration flows over time and how they intersect in a citizenship law full of contradictions. The law favors Italian descendants over immigrants and their children, even when they are born in Italy, revealing its complex relationship with its colonial past which marked a deep separation with “other” populations from a legal point of view (prohibition to marry locals, lack of recognition of mixed children, etc.). According to the article’s writer, one of the possible reasons why the national team is not leveraging young talent from the immigrant communities lies in this unaddressed legacy, and in the impact of the law that governs legal belonging to the country. And Italy does not seem to take account, shamelessly.

Fiore has written about Italy’s citizenship law in her book Pre-occupied Space: Remapping Italy’s Transnational Migrations and Colonial Legacies (2017) and has curated an exhibit about this topic titled Diritto di sangue – Rovescio di sangue by Marina Sagona (2025).

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This , this year at its 3rd edition, was conceived to bring visibility to the mountainous village of Bisacquino, in the heart of Sicily, the birthplace of renowned director Frank Capra. At the panel, his WWII films were discussed by Elena Costa (Borgo Film Fest Artistic Director), as part of a broader conversation about Italian American literature (Prof. Laura Restuccia, University of Palermo), the ambiguous experience of the Sicilian population and Italian American soldiers at the time of the Landing (Alberto Oddo), and the relationships between film and photography during WWII with references to Robert Capa (Prof. Gennaro Schembri, University of Palermo).

The Film Festival includes screenings, round tables, and workshops, but also opportunities for social gatherings and cultural discoveries over an entire week (May 25-31, 2026). A walk around this quiet town reveals the presence of a Jewish community in the past, that of a monumental Catholic sanctuary (Madonna del Balzo), and a majestic natural spot, Mount Trona, full of history and legends. But the more obvious route for the film festival participants is the one that traces the key moments of Capra’s film career as well as the brief story of Capra in town through panels located around the village and documents exhibited at the Civic Museum. Capra was 5 years old when he was taken to the U.S. and returned only for a short visit at the age of 77, a very successful self-made man by then, but also an immigrant who was for long time part of a process of intense Americanization in institutional environments. The attachment to his Sicilian roots came late in his life and this fact continues to constitute the source of an interesting debate about identity, origin, migration, memory, and life goals.

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