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摘要

In just 20 years Italy has developed from a clear Catholic majority to a complex and unique pattern of religious diversity. Italians are experiencing this shift later than other Westerners, who are more familiar with adapting to the social challenges that such a demographic change entails. Reading the new map of faiths in the country is not easy, for two main reasons: the estimates, based on migrant origins, are insufficient, and a map of places of worship is far from accurate because, to the naked eye, most of these places are not yet spatially visible. The construction of a non-Christian place of worship is legally regulated by a messy web of normative sources, mainly regional, chaotic and inorganic. Therefore, urban change and the use of space for religious purposes happens much more swiftly than any change in urban planning policy or legislation. In major urban contexts, sacred places take shape treading a thin line between what is legal and what is illegal. They are widespread but fragmented, standing everywhere there is available space: in former garages, storage, factories, or in private apartments.