Rivista di Storia e Scienze Sociali, n. 86

The conflict of dissolution of Yugoslavia provoked a humanitarian catastrophe unparalleled in Europe after World War II. In the rst phase of the con ict – between 1991 and 1996 – it caused one million refugees and 1,200,000 IDPs. Italy was the second country of destination in Europe, after Germany, for Yugoslav refugees. About 80,000 Yugoslav citizens settled in Italy between the end of 1992 and 1996. In response to that, Italian civil society mobilized to offer assistance and settlement for the refugees. That mobilization is analysed here with the aim to highlight the processes that characterized and supported the engagement of civil society. Speci c attention is devoted to the widespread hospitality network arranged in Italy between 1992 and 1996. This was the backbone of subsequent immigration policies, and is here considered in the context of the general mobilization of solidarity with Yugoslavia and in the frame of the debate on migration policies in progress in Italy since the late Eighties.