Migrants, refugees, invaders: responses to the Riace Model’s inclusive citizenship project

ABSTRACT In imagining a post-nationalistic and post-racialized future, the refugee hospitality and integration project implemented in Italy, known as the Modello Riace (Riace Model), sought to use state-funded, sustainable activities to encourage asylum seekers to mix with locals and settle in the economically depressed and depopulated areas of southern Italy. The project navigated legal frameworks and defied rampant ethno-nationalism to integrate refugees during the Mediterranean migrant crisis and to mitigate the associated climate of hostility towards them. The experiment prompted a political backlash and stirred paranoia about an imagined ethnic replacement of Italians. This paper introduces the Riace Model’s humanitarian vision and its interaction with the social solidarity economic sector in Italy after the 2008 financial crisis. It analyses interviews with the then-mayor of Riace, Domenico Lucano, and their reception on social media, to examine notions of humanitarianism and citizenship in Italy. Highlighting the contrast between Riace’s imagined future and hostile views of refugees as invaders and criminals, the study demonstrates the conflict that arose at a time of economic austerity. The study also illustrates how public figures became proxies for opposing factions, discusses the Model’s legacy, and highlights the challenges facing future integration schemes.