The Mediterranean, Religious, Diet
Over the millennia, Italy has seen the arrival of numerous religions, including the three great monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Centuries of wars, foreign occupations, and religious history have gone by, creating a rich diversity in Italian life that is still visible and even touchable in every part of Italy. There are 2000-year-old Greek and Roman temples as well as mosques and synagogues, both ancient and currently operating, and of course, plenty of churches and cathedrals. A journey across the Italian territory, if well planned, can be a time-travel journey from Pythagoras in Calabria, passing through Arabic Sicily in Palermo, with stops at the Colosseum and the Vatican City in Rome and the medieval Umbrian city of Francis of Assisi, and finally ending in the valleys west of Turin that are named for Pietro Valdo.
Religiously, Italy has had a great and rich past, but today Italy is a nation head over heels in a process of change. A new generation of Italians is taking its place in Italian life that represents a mix of traditionally religious as well as non-religious people, not to mention followers of new religions and people who are seeking new ways to be believers.
The merging of post-secular development on one hand, that put traditional churches and religious movements in crisis, with the rise of new religious pluralism on the other was the most significant change in European religious history in the second half of the twentieth century.
Today we’re facing a new phase of the process: the era of “New Religious Pluralism 2.0.” Of the 60 million people who live in Italy, significantly more than 10% have a belief different than that of traditional Roman Catholicism.
In this “new religious pluralism,” religious dialogue is not just a way of doing theological analysis but a necessary tool for the construction of social cohesion, and even more, an essential part of the new Italian citizenship. Speaking about religions in Italy today means recognizing this new plurality, this ongoing flourishing world of people, languages, hopes, and goals. Today religious dialogue is no longer just an interest of insiders but an essential key to talking with neighbors and co-workers.