03/07/2026 11:20
- 12:20
HALL: Parenzo - A12
Contact:
Ivaldi M.C.
authorAMC:
Ivaldi M.C.
Speaker:
Bottoni R.,
Ferrari A.
Chair:
D'Arienzo M.
This AMC session explores the legal and symbolic tensions at the heart of the Italian "positive secularism" (laicità), as analyzed in the monograph Secularism and Freedom of Religion in Italy. The volume provides a multi-layered investigation into how religious symbols shape the contemporary legal landscape, focusing primarily on their presence within public institutions and the resulting challenges to state neutrality.
The book's core inquiry aligns with the EuARe 2026 theme, "Religions and (In)equalities", by scrutinizing how the institutional management of religious symbols - from the historical "special significance" of Rome for Catholicism to the display of the crucifix in schools, courtrooms, and polling stations - impacts citizens' equality. Furthermore, the session will address the legal status of religious symbols worn by believers - such as the hijab, the Sikh kirpan, or the niqab - as well as other systemic "symbolic" issues. These include long-standing controversies over Muslim places of worship and the denial of cooperation agreements (intese) to non-confessional groups, such as the UAAR.
A significant portion of the discussion is devoted to the comparative dimension, contrasting the Italian "passive symbol" doctrine with French laïcité and other Western judicial approaches, including the seminal Lautsi saga. Led by the session Chair, the Author and two legal scholars will examine how these legal stalemates and the "living law" generate new forms of (in)equality, highlighting the ongoing absence of a general law on religious freedom and the wide margin of state discretion in managing religious diversity in the twenty-first century.
