Lampedusa as a “Gateway to Europe”: the Shaping of the Island’s Image in Italian Reportage through the Prism of the Phenomenon of African Immigration

Sylwia Szarejko

(Muzeum Pamięci Sybiru)
E-mail: sylwiaszarejko[at]gmail.com
ORCID: 0000-0001-8956-6227
DOI: 10.31261/FLPI.2023.05.05
„Fabrica Litterarum Polono-Italica” 2023, nr 1

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Abstract

This article is an attempt to familiarize the readers with Italian reportages that deal with the subject of African migrations to the Apennine Peninsula. In recent years, this phenomenon has been described and analyzed by many writers and journalists; however, this article places special emphasis on the representation of the island of Lampedusa, which belongs to the archipelago of the Italian Pelagie Islands and has in the last 30 years become not only the proverbial “Gateway to Europe”, but also a place that testifies to the issue of illegal migrations. When analyzing the reportages about Lampedusa, the most interesting aspect (from the Polish perspective, at least) seems to be the Italian angle on the “problem of the island.”