No Intesa, No Recognition? Challenges of the State’s Role in Defining Religion in Italy

ROME — In the historic Sala Matteotti of Italy’s Camera dei Deputati, where law and legacy often converge, a quiet but urgent conversation unfolded this week about who gets to be officially recognized — and who remains invisible — under the country’s religious freedom laws.

The conference, titled “Senza Intese: Le nuove religioni alla prova dell’art. 8 della Costituzione“, moderated by the Observatory on Religious Entities, Ecclesiastical Property, and Nonprofit Organizations at the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli.” It brought together scholars, legal experts, and representatives from diverse religious communities to examine the tension between constitutional ideals and outdated state mechanisms for recognizing faith groups.

Among the speakers was Professor Maria D’Arienzo, an authority on law and religion at the University of Naples Federico II and president of ADEC, the national association of university professors of Ecclesiastical Law of the State (specializing in the legal dimensions of religious phenomena).

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