This chapter describes the history of italian emigration since the second world
war. Emigration after the war depended on many social and economic variables,
as well as the difficulties of integration in the countries to which they
emigrated. Those leaving often only hoped to scrape together small amounts
useful for planning their future and that of their own family. Those countries
who received the immigrants, did not want them to remain for too long: the
countries that welcomed manpower did so under strict conditions and by linking
the immigrant presence to contracts of employment. In the 60s and 70s
italian emigration was less precarious, but after the economic crisis (1973) a lot
of people was forced to return to Italy. The characteristics of the relationship
between multilingualism and emigration in this period are very much influenced
by social and political conditions
