FIAT/IFTA World Conference 2025

On both shores of the Mediterranean, Tunisia and Italy have a shared past. Waves of migration have followed one another for centuries between the two shores, leading to the settlement of the Italian community in Tunisia.

Migration and integration have accompanied the trajectory of Italians in Tunisia, we propose through this multi-media audiovisual and written research to present the evidence provided by the archives on the Italian-Tunisian heritage, this archive search concerned the archives of Tunisian Television, namely the two collections of television programs from the 80s “Italiet” and “Sikiliet”, on Italy and Sicily as web as the two seasons of the Ramadan soap opera “harga” from the years 2021-2022.

We also used written references from the Tunisian National Archives and the National Library, as well as online resources and books written by Italian researchers with a migratory past from the cities of Livorno, Tuscany, Sicily, and Genoa.

This research is essential for tracing the contemporary history of Tunisia and Italy, of the Italians who remained in Tunisia since its independence in 1956.

It is essential to represent the cultural framework of Italian migrants and the framework of the professions practiced in Tunisia, as well as the impact of their integration into Tunisian culture in search of a shared Mediterranean identity.

Resources:
- Tunisian Television Archives
- Archives of the National Archives of Tunisia
- Archives of the National Library
- Online Resources