REUTER
Italian striker Mario Balotelli's starring performance in the Euro soccer championship last month has focused a rare spotlight on the serious but neglected problem of racism in Italy.
Balotelli's two stunning goals, which knocked out Germany in the semi-final, turned him into a national hero - even if that aura was diminished after Italy's rout by Spain in the final.
The tournament generated a rash of local media stories looking at how Balotelli's life reflects the travails of black Italians and immigrants in a country which seems largely in denial about whether there is a problem at all.
Such coverage or discussion is rare despite regular episodes of racist violence, including the murder of two Senegalese street traders by a militant rightist in Florence and the burning down of a Roma camp in Turin, both last December.
Some of the most shocking episodes have been linked to mafia gangs in the south, where many illegal African immigrants are employed in fruit and vegetable picking.
In a notorious incident at Castelvolturno, near Naples, in 2008, a hit squad from the Camorra mafia killed six immigrants from Ghana and other parts of west Africa in a racist attack during an operation against a rival group of gangsters.
In 2010 more than 50 people were injured during rioting in the Calabrian town of Rosarno after immigrant farm workers were attacked by local youths. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, now leader of the anti-immigrant Northern League, blamed the problem on lax policies against illegal immigration. All the African workers were later shipped out of the town.
Racism is often most obvious in soccer stadiums where Balotelli, and a string of other black players, have frequently been the victims of racist abuse, despite claims by soccer authorities that it is not a big problem.
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