Senegalese people in Italy

Senegalese in Italy
Total population
112,598 (2023)
Languages
Wolof, French, Italian, Pulaar
Religion
Islam (Sunni)
Related ethnic groups
Senegalese diaspora

The presence of Senegalese people in Italy dates back to the 1980s.

In 2014 there were 94,030 legally resident immigrants from Senegal in Italy, an increase from 59,857 in 2006. Over time, the number of Senegalese citizens in Italy has grown steadily, rising from 46,478 in 2004 to 110,763 registered residents in 2022, representing a percentage increase of 138%. The diaspora in Italy consists of 81,345 men and 29,418 women, a ratio of approximately 3:1.[1][2]

As of 2014, the three cities with the largest Senegalese populations in Italy were Milan, Rome, and Genoa.[3]

In 2022, about 30% of all Senegalese legally residing in Italy were concentrated in Lombardy (32,852).[4]

The provinces with the highest numbers of Senegalese residents were Bergamo (9,350), Brescia (6,716), and Milan (6,434).[5]

Religious brotherhoods

Approximately 75% of immigrants in Italy originating from the African continent belong to the Muride brotherhood and maintain strong ties to their cultural roots. Accordingly, about two-thirds of the nearly thirty thousand Senegalese (including both documented and undocumented migrants) present in Italy are affiliated with the Muridiyya. Major centers in Italy are located in Pontevico and Bovezzo in the province of Brescia, and in Zingonia in the province of Bergamo. A smaller portion of Senegalese residents in Italy belong to the Tijaniyya brotherhood.

Group life and festive ritual gatherings highlight their attachment to traditional customs and culture. Marabouts regularly visit Italy to collect offerings and bestow blessings on the faithful, thereby strengthening ties with their homeland. Some migrants are able to return to Touba during the Grand Magal, the major annual pilgrimage commemorating Ahmadou Bamba.

Violence against Senegalese people in Italy

  • Idy Diene, aged 54, was killed by Roberto Pirrone on the Vespucci Bridge in Florence in March 2018.[6]
  • On 13 December 2011, in Piazza Dalmazia in Florence, CasaPound militant Gianluca Casseri killed Samb Modou and Diop Mor, two Senegalese street vendors, and wounded three others. The Italo-Ethiopian director Dagmawi Yimer made the documentary Va’ pensiero about the massacre.[6]

Violent crimes committed by Senegalese individuals in Italy

  • Mohamed Gueye, aged 25, was sentenced in 2019 to three years’ imprisonment for the rape of a fifteen-year-old girl in Jesolo the previous year.[7]
  • Ousseynou Sy, on 20 March 2019 in San Donato Milanese, hijacked and subsequently set fire to a bus carrying 50 children, two teachers, and a school aide. He was later sentenced to 24 years’ imprisonment for kidnapping for terrorist or subversive purposes.[8]
  • Diop Moustapha, aged 29, robbed and raped a shop assistant in Osio Sotto (BG) after a prior conviction for assault and sexual harassment in 2014 that had been suspended. He was convicted on 26 June following DNA evidence.[9]
  • Ibrahima Camara, aged 24, raped a 45-year-old woman in broad daylight at Monte Stella Park in Milan on 15 July 2020. He was later definitively sentenced to six years and eight months in prison, followed by expulsion from Italy.[10]
  • On the night between 29 and 30 October 2022, a 17-year-old Senegalese minor (identity withheld due to age at the time) raped an Italian student at the Paolo Borsellino university campus in Turin. He was found guilty based on DNA evidence.[11][12]

References

  1. ^ "Citizens of Senegal in Italy in 2004 (ISTAT)" [Citizens of Senegal in Italy in 2004]. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
  2. ^ "Senegalese in Italy, progression 2016–2022 (ISTAT)" [Senegalese in Italy, progression 2016–2022]. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
  3. ^ "Italian municipalities" [Italian municipalities]. Comuni Italiani. 11 January 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
  4. ^ "Senegalese in Italy by region (ISTAT 2022)" [Senegalese in Italy by region]. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
  5. ^ "Senegalese presence in Lombardy (ISTAT 2022)" [Senegalese presence in Lombardy]. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
  6. ^ a b "A Senegalese man killed in Florence" [A Senegalese man killed in Florence]. Internazionale. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
  7. ^ "Jesolo, Senegalese man sentenced for rape of a minor" [Jesolo, Senegalese man sentenced for rape of a minor]. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
  8. ^ "Bus hijacking near Milan: driver sentenced" [Bus hijacking near Milan: driver sentenced]. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
  9. ^ "Serial rapist arrested after DNA match" [Serial rapist arrested after DNA match]. Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
  10. ^ "Rape at Monte Stella Park: Senegalese man convicted" [Rape at Monte Stella Park: Senegalese man convicted]. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
  11. ^ "Who is the minor arrested for the rape of a student on the Turin campus" [Who is the minor arrested for the rape of a student on the Turin campus]. Open. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
  12. ^ "Turin, 17-year-old confesses to campus rape" [Turin, 17-year-old confesses to campus rape]. Open. Retrieved 15 December 2025.

Bibliography

  • Schmidt di Friedberg, Ottavia (1994). Islam, solidarietà e lavoro. I muridi senegalesi in Italia [Islam, Solidarity, and Work: Senegalese Murids in Italy] (in Italian). Turin: Edizioni della Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli.
  • Guolo, Renzo (2001). "L'islam nascosto. Adattamento e trasformazione della religiosità nella confraternita senegalese muride in Italia" [Hidden Islam: Adaptation and Transformation of Religious Life in the Senegalese Murid Brotherhood in Italy]. Sociologia Urbana e Rurale (in Italian) (64–65).
  • Casella Paltrinieri, Anna (2006). Un futuro in gioco: tra muridi senegalesi e comunità italiana [A Future at Stake: Between Senegalese Murids and the Italian Community] (in Italian). FrancoAngeli.
  • Gasparetti, Fedora (2005). Vengo da Touba, sono muride e lavoro a Torino [I Come from Touba, I Am Murid, and I Work in Turin] (Master’s thesis) (in Italian).
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