The Italian dilemma

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Second of three parts

VERONA, Italy - A towering statue of Daniele Comboni, the first bishop to Africa, embracing two black children marks the entrance to the Veronetta neighborhood.

In the shadow of the monument inscribed with the words, "Either Blackness or Death," Marco Corini serves espresso and cappuccino to locals he has known his entire life.

"Veronetta has always been a poor neighborhood. I was born here. I grew up on these streets. I moved away 10 years ago. It has changed an awful lot in the last 20, 30 years," he said, looking out his cafe window.

"There is crime, vandalism. ... They killed someone here a month ago. The area is not nice anymore."

Just across the Adige River lies Verona's 1,900-year-old Roman Arena, where early Christians were devoured by lions and Maria Callas once sang her arias. Nearby stands a balcony said to be the one where Romeo and Juliet fell in love.

Veronetta has been invaded by Africans from Ghana, Nigeria and Sudan -- and more recently outsiders from Eastern Europe, Mr. Corini says.

"The Italian people have all gone. The authorities don't look after us. Veronetta is filled with extracomunitario," he said, using the Italian word for immigrants from outside the European Union.

Mr. Corini and Italy, like the rest of Europe, are struggling to deal with immigrants, black and brown faces on streets that were once all white, smells and music emanating from ethnic grocery stores, high unemployment, crowded mosques next to empty churches, crime, depleted pension funds and, most of all, the gnawing anxiety of what the future may bring.