Bowlers and Batsmen Signal a Demographic Shift in an Eternal Cit:
The Catholic aid organization Caritas said there were 74,000 Bangladeshis legally residing in Italy, 75,000 Sri Lankans and about 65,000 Pakistanis. But experts estimate there are about 65,000 to 70,000 South Asians living here illegally. Many men work as waiters or run shops.
Just a note, I went to Italy last spring. South Asians were a pretty striking presence all around. There are Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis all around the Colosseum selling things. Bangladeshis were thick on the ground in Bologna too. Not so much in Genoa though. There it was Africans. A positive aspect highlighted in the article is that the non-Italians who come to Italy come to work. The Italians are frankly rather rude and racist compared to Fenno-Scandinavians, but the stereotype of a person of “immigrant background” isn’t a shiftless parasite as it is in parts of northern Europe.
Addendum: The main exceptions are the Gypsies, who tend to avoid conventional labor force activities. So they run what are obviously professional begging troupes in Florence.