Between the late 1940s and early 1950s, alongside the influx of refugees from Eastern Europe, Jewish communities and welfare organizations in Italy began registering the presence of dozens of Jews from North Africa, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. These migratory flows marked a significant shift on two fronts: first, whereas postwar Italy had been primarily a transit country, it now became a destination for immigration; second, while earlier migrations had been primarily European, these new waves came—albeit in smaller numbers but with greater continuity—from across North Africa and the Middle East.
With decolonization, political-military crises, and tensions related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jewish mobility from the southern and eastern Mediterranean intensified through the late 1970s. Once again, for some, Italy was a temporary stop; for others, it became a permanent destination.
More broadly, from the postwar period onward, Italy was not only affected by significant emigration and internal migration but gradually established itself as an immigration country—first for people from former European colonies in Africa and the Middle East, and later from Europe as well.
Demographic studies on Italy’s Jewish population show that the proportion of foreign-born Jews rose from just over 2% in the early twentieth century to 27% in 1975. Specifically, the share of immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East rose from 30% in the 1945–1955 period to nearly 70% between 1955 and 1965.

From the late 1950s onward, the first significant migratory flow involved Iranian Jews, primarily from Tehran but descended from the Mashhad community, which had been forced to convert in the 19th century. Their presence grew in the 1960s, driven by economic motives and supported by strong family networks. Most settled in Milan, where by the 1980s the community numbered around 1,600 people. At the same time, Jews from Syria and Lebanon also settled in Milan. Though smaller in number—about a hundred people—this migration was also supported by family ties and community networks.

Following the Suez Crisis of October 1956, around 1,000 Jews fleeing Egypt settled in Italy, while many others transited through before emigrating elsewhere. These were mostly middle-class urban families, many of whom held European citizenships—especially Italian—retained through the capitulation system. The majority settled in Milan, where the local Jewish community quickly mobilized to address the humanitarian emergency and support integration. Particular attention was given to the community school system, which, due in part to migration from the Middle East, saw its student body double between 1950 and 1960, from about 400 to 800 pupils.

After the Six-Day War in 1967, a new wave of migration occurred when the Jewish community in Tripoli became the target of violent pogroms, fueled by virulent anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist propaganda following the Arab-Israeli conflict. These attacks caused looting, destruction, dozens of injuries, and around fifteen deaths. As a result, about 4,000 Libyan Jews were forced to flee, initially finding temporary refuge in Italy. On that occasion, the Italian government agreed to temporarily receive the exiles due to ongoing historical ties with the former colony. However, with Muʿammar Gaddafi’s rise to power in 1969 and his expulsion decree of 1970, any hope of returning to Libya was extinguished. Around 1,500 Jewish refugees from Libya opted for permanent resettlement in Italy, primarily in Rome.

Jewish migration to Italy continued from Syria and Lebanon but progressively declined after the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and further with the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975. These years marked the mass emigration of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa, leading to the gradual disappearance of Jewish communities in most of those countries.

Throughout the twentieth century, Jewish migrations to Italy occurred within a broader context of mobility triggered by persecution, conflict, political and economic instability, and precarious legal status in countries of origin, often accompanied by a steady erosion of civil rights. Added to these factors were historical ties between Mediterranean Jewish communities and Italy, along with the country’s growing appeal as a destination for immigration. Examining the Jewish migratory flows that passed through the Peninsula over the century reveals the continuity of this phenomenon, which developed with varying intensity and in parallel with other waves of migration that shaped contemporary Italy.