Abstract
Chapter 5 analyses the functions of residency in Italy. It shows how civil registration is a dual institution, corresponding to a duty and, at the same time, a right for the better part of those persons who are present on the territory or who have significant interests within it. This chapter then illustrates the logic governing registration and its implications by describing the chain of command in the procedures of civil registration and stressing the key actors and their formal roles. The last part emphasises how residency is an ambiguous instrument: it plays a key role in implementing the welfare system, as it allows the concrete exercise of rights, and is strategic in controlling the population because through it national authorities are able to keep track of people’s movements.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Art. 2 of Law 1228/1954 states that “it is compulsory for each person to request registration in the registry office of the municipality wherein he/she habitually dwells, both for himself/herself and for the persons over which he/she exerts parental authority or protection, and to declare to the same office the reasons for his/her change of geographical position”.
- 2.
Art. 4 of Law 1228/1954 establishes that it is the duty of the registry officer to invite “persons with registry-related obligations to present themselves in the registry office, so as to furnish any news and clarification requisite to the regular activities of the aforesaid office”.
- 3.
See Art. 11 of Law 1228/1954, from Art. 56 of D.P.R. 223/89.
- 4.
Certain categories of person form an exception to this obligation. These categories are identified by Art. 8 of the regulation, which specifies the statuses which do not require civil registration : military conscripts or career military personnel, civil servants (including carabinieri, personnel of the state police and the financial police, and drafted military personnel), students attending training and advanced courses at schools, patients at care institutions of every kind—so long as these individuals do not stay in the municipality for more than two years, calculated from the day of their departure from the municipality wherein they are registered—and criminal suspects held in custody.
- 5.
Article 20 of the population registry law states that individual documentation must “indicate gender, date, municipality of birth, civil status, profession, work or craft habitually exercised or professional status, and qualifications, as well as dwelling address”. It moreover allows the insertion of “other information, in addition to that already provided in the documentation itself” but “only as subject to authorisation from the Ministry of the Interior, in conjunction with the Italian National Institute of Statistics, in accordance with Art. 12 of Law. 24, December 1954, n. 1228”. It also specifies that “the documentation on foreign citizens will also indicate the citizenship and the date of expiration of the stay permit or the issuance or renewal of the stay card”.
- 6.
This means of registration is the object of one of the most important certifications required by Italian law, family status, which certifies the composition of the groups of persons who live together or who are united in terms of civil registration. This is a central notion in relation to the public administration, and in particular regulates access to various welfare measures, but it is often the subject of misunderstandings. As is clearly specified by the Istat (Istat, 1992, p. 44) family status differs from the family unit, a juridical entity, itself essential for granting access to benefits and services, and necessary for calculating the so-called Indicator of Economic Situation (Isee). While the first is based on the idea of cohabitation together with affective bonds, the second is founded instead on economic dependency, and includes economically sustained persons, even if they do not live with those who sustain them.
- 7.
The Unified Text on Immigration (Legislative decree n. 286/1998), in Sub-paragraph 7 of Art. 6, states that “civil registration and variation thereof for foreigners with regular stay permits are made under the same conditions as those of Italian citizens, through the means established by the implementation regulation”.
- 8.
For clear findings of juridical character regarding the initiative of the previous minister of the interior, please refer to the following text, available at https://www.asgi.it/asilo-e-protezione-internazionale/liscrizione-anagrafica-e-laccesso-ai-servizi-territoriali-dei-richiedenti-asilo-ai-tempi-del-salvinismo/; http://www.questionegiustizia.it/articolo/vecchi-e-nuovi-problemi-riguardanti-la-residenza-anagrafica-nel-diritto-dell-immigrazione-e-dell-asilo_16-01-2019.php; http://www.altrodiritto.unifi.it/adirmigranti/parere-decreto-salvini.htm#n2.
- 9.
Law n. 113/2018.
- 10.
As is clarified also by the Civil Supreme Court, “The registry system for the resident population […] establishes a juridico-administrative device for documentation and knowledge-gathering, which is organised in the interest both of the public administration, and of single individuals. Indeed, there is an interest not only on the part of the administration to possess a relative degree of certainty regarding the composition and the movement of the population [...], but also on the part of private persons to obtain such registry certification as is necessary to them in the exercise of their civil and political rights, and, in general, in the demonstration of their residency and the family status […]. Moreover, the entire activity of a Registry Officer is controlled […] by a series of limitations, which do not provide any room for arbitrary decisions. It should therefore be a commonly held view […] that controversies on the subject of registration and cancellation in the registry offices of the population, involve situations of subjective right” (Civil Supreme Court, Sect. Un. 19 June 2000. Ord. n. 449). On this point, see also the Civil Supreme Court, Sect. II 14 March 1986, Ord. n. 738; Cons. State, Sect. IV 16 January 1990. Sent n. 14.
- 11.
Ratified and made enforceable in Italy with D.P.R. n. 217/1982 on the freedom of circulation.
- 12.
Made enforceable in Italy with Law n. 881/1977.
- 13.
For further information on the right of movement of foreigners in the Italian territory, see Algostino (2001).
- 14.
- 15.
For issues related specifically to the difficulty of accessing rights on the part of persons without fixed abode, see Bergamaschi (2017).
- 16.
The Single Text on Immigration, Sub-par. 7 of Art. 4, and its implementing regulation, D.P.R. n. 394/1999, Sub-par. 2 of Art. 42.
- 17.
- 18.
As emerges from analysis of the sites of numerous sanitary districts, and from telephone conversations with the operators of some of the same.
- 19.
In some cases, for example, the address indicated on the stay permit is not a sufficient alternative to residency, but it is also necessary to present a declaration of reception. This is a document to be delivered to the authorities of public security, which is to say, to police headquarters, should a person relinquish his/her house or part of it for a certain amount of time, or should he/she host someone. This declaration is compulsory even if it is an Italian citizen who will make use of the building: Art. 12 of the Decree-Law n. 59/78, transformed into Law 191/78, specifies that “anyone who relinquishes his/her ownership or the economic enjoyment of a structure or a part thereof, or who under any other entitlement consents to another person’s exclusive use of the same for a period superior to a month, is obliged to communicate this to the local authorities of public security within 48 hours of the consignment of the structure”. With reference to foreign persons, no temporal threshold is established for the obligation of communication: Art. 7 of the Single Text on Immigration stipulates that “whoever, for any reason, accommodates a foreigner or a stateless person, even be he/she relative or kin, or who transfers to the same his/her ownership or economic enjoyment of real estate, rural or urban, within the territory of the state, is required to give written communication, within 48 hours, to the authorities of public security”. Concerning accommodation in the reception facilities, see Art. 109 of the Single Text on Public Security Laws (Tulps).
- 20.
Circular n. 2018 n. 6202. It is curious to note how this communication, though it recognises to the asylum seeker access to active employment policies, cites Art. 11 of Leg.-Dec. n. 150/2015—Provision for the Reorganisation of the Legislation on the Subject of Work Services for Active Employment Policies—in a way that differs partially from the original. The circular reports the following version: “availability of services and measures of active employment policies to all residents on Italian territory, regardless of the region or the autonomous province of reference”. In the original, however, the last word is not “reference” but “residence”. This original formulation is clearly more efficacious than in the version reported in the circular in uncoupling access to services from the residential registry. “Residents on Italian territory” should be understood in a civil sense, not in a registrational sense; otherwise it would not make sense to clarify that this access is granted regardless of the region or the autonomous province of the residency (in this case, the registered residency).
- 21.
Approved with D.P.R. n. 223/1967.
- 22.
Issued towards the R.D.N. 773/1931.
- 23.
Issued towards the R.D.N. 635/1940.
- 24.
In this regard, the regime brought to bear a genuine work of national demographic education, accustoming the Italian to read in all the newspapers hosts of data regarding the births, deaths, and migrations of all kingdom’s cities, advising the prefects to print them in magazines on a weekly basis of not more frequently still (Gallo, 2008, p. 136).
- 25.
For example, a natural decretation, due to the fact the deaths are more numerous of the births, or a drop in marriages.
- 26.
With the adoption of Law n. 151 of 19 May 1975.
- 27.
Gallo report the case of a woman of Fermo who asked to be registered in the registry offices of Milan, the city in which she had resided for about five years with her four children, in the absence of her husband, who was thought to be in the United States: the registry officer denied the registration because the woman could not adopt the role of head of family, given that she lacked official documentation demonstrating the absence of her husband (Gallo, 2008, pp. 125–126).
- 28.
In case of the mayor’s absence, the function of registry officer is “exercised by the delegated assessor or the senior assessor, and, in the absence of these assessors, by the mayor’s senior advisor”.
- 29.
The duty of carrying these out can also be entrusted to the municipal administrative personnel.
- 30.
A particularly disquieting form of restriction of the freedom of movement—and at the same time, a disquieting form of paternalistic assistance—in which the supervision of time is associated with the supervision of various behaviours, such as limitations on the use of telephones, the obligation to perform gratuitous work and to adopt a grateful attitude and ‘devoted’ attitude, the imposition of language learning—can be found in the Integration Academia of Bergamo, a model reception centre presented as an alternative to the normal CAS (extraordinary reception centres) and promoted by a large segment of the centre-left as an alternative to Salvinism. For further details on this “experiment”, see https://www.tpi.it/migranti/accademia-integrazione-bergamo-20181217218853/ and https://www.lavoroculturale.org/il-sogno-dellintegrazione-genera-mostri-distopie-democratiche-come-alternative-al-salvinismo/.
- 31.
In the framework of a PON, social inclusion project promoted by the municipal administration and assigned to the Ambrosian Caritas, which aims to the counteract the extreme marginalisation and dedicated to persons without fixed abode.
- 32.
The quoted passage is repeated by the letter sent by Naga in Milan to the city administration, to which the reader is referred also for further information on this point, and for other information relative to the project. The text is available at https://naga.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Lettera-comune-di-milano-residenza-senza-fissa-dimora-DEF.pdf.
- 33.
The D.D.N., 03209/2018.
- 34.
Circular n. 21/1990.
- 35.
Local Council Deliberation n. 433/2010.
References
Algostino, A. (2001). Note sulla titolarità della libertà personale e di circolazione e soggiorno dello straniero extracomunitario. In R. Bin, G. Brunelli, A. Pugiotto, & P. Veronesi (Eds.), Stranieri tra i diritti. Trattenimento, accompagnamento coattivo, riserva di giurisdizione (pp. 23–34). Torino: Giappichelli.
Avvocato di Strada. (2019). Senza tetto non senza diritti. Rapporto di ricerca su residenza anagrafica e persone senza dimora. Bologna: Associazione Avvocato di Strada Onlus.
Bascherini, G., & Ciervo, A. (2012). L’integrazione difficile: il diritto alla salute e all’istruzione degli stranieri nella crisi del welfare state. In R. Nania (Ed.), L’evoluzione costituzionale delle libertà e dei diritti fondamentali. Saggi e casi di studio (pp. 343–383). Torino: Giappichelli.
Bergamaschi, M. (2017). Ripensare la città. Senza dimora e intervento sociale. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
Boldrini, M., & Passoni, V. (2019). Dalla normativa Nazionale a quella locale: l’accesso alla residenza. In Medici per i Diritti Umani-MEDU (Ed.), Le residenze invisibili. Indagine sulle emergenze abitative a Firenze (pp. 49–62). Firenze: MEDU.
Coccoli, L. (2017). Il governo dei poveri all’inizio dell’età moderna. Riforma delle istituzioni assistenziali e dibattiti sulla povertà nell’Europa del Cinquecento. Milano: Jouvence.
Consito, M. (2017). Gli stranieri di fronte al diritto alla salute e all’assistenza. In A. Giorgis & M. Losana (Eds.), Diritti uguali per tutti? Gli stranieri e la garanzia dell’uguaglianza formale (pp. 155–180). Milano: FrancoAngeli.
Federici, N. (1960). Lezioni di demografia, E. De Santis, Roma.
Foucault, M. (1991). Discipline and Punish. The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage Books.
Gallo, S. (2008). Il domicilio di soccorso e altre questioni: spunti per uno studio sulle anagrafi e la mobilità territoriale interna in Italia tra fine Ottocento e fascismo. In E. Sori & A. Treves (Eds.), L’Italia in movimento: due secoli di migrazioni (XIX–XX) (pp. 123–141). Udine: Forum.
Gargiulo, E., & Maiorca, A. (2016). Gli stranieri di fronte al diritto di iscrizione anagrafica. In M. Losana & F. Pallante (Eds.), Stranieri e discriminazioni (pp. 121–142). Milano: FrancoAngeli.
Istat. (1992). Anagrafe della popolazione. Legge e regolamento anagrafico (“Annuario statistico italiano”, series B, 29). Roma: Istituto nazionale di statistica.
Minardi, R. (2005). Senza fissa dimora, senza tetto, senza diritti. I servizi demografici, 2(4), 8–13.
Morozzo Della Rocca, P. (2003). Il diritto alla residenza: un confronto tra principi generali, categorie civilistiche e procedure anagrafiche. Il Diritto di famiglia e delle persone, 32(4), 1013–1042.
Morozzo Della Rocca, P. (2019). Vecchi e nuovi problemi riguardanti la residenza anagrafica nel diritto dell’immigrazione e dell’asilo. Questione giustizia. Retrieved from http://www.questionegiustizia.it/articolo/vecchi-e-nuovi-problemi-riguardanti-la-residenza-anagrafica-nel-diritto-dell-immigrazione-e-dell-asilo_16-01-2019.php.
Ronchetti, L. (2012). L’accesso ai diritti tra regolarità e residenza. In L. Ronchetti (Ed.), I diritti di cittadinanza dei migranti. Il ruolo delle Regioni (pp. 185–194). Milano: Giuffrè.
Santoro, E. (2019). In direzione ostinata e contraria. Parere sull’iscrizione anagrafica dei richiedenti asilo alla luce del Decreto Salvini. L’altro diritto. Retrieved from http://www.altrodiritto.unifi.it/adirmigranti/parere-decreto-salvini.htm.
The United Nations. (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Yuval-Davis, N., Wemyss, G., & Cassidy, K. (2019). Bordering. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gargiulo, E. (2021). The Functions of Residency. In: Invisible Borders. Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53836-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53836-1_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-53835-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-53836-1
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)