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Many of Jhumpa Lahiri's protagonists in Roman Stories, while not described as being of a specific ethnicity or nationality, are clearly foreign to Rome. So where might they be from? Italy's immigration statistics program only tracks non-EU newcomers to the country, giving an incomplete picture of immigration in general, but we can see that some of the top countries of origin of foreign residents in recent years include Albania, Morocco, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.
While immigrant citizens, foreign residents, and visitors to Italy may have decided to live there for any number of reasons, a significant factor bringing new residents to the country has been the migration of asylum seekers from places experiencing wars, natural disasters, and other unliveable conditions. According to The Guardian, the majority of migrants to Italy these days come from North African countries like Tunisia and Libya.
In 2017, Lampedusa, a tiny island of 6,000 people, made global headlines...
