Italian immigration to southwest France, which started in the early 1920s, presents a particular modality of migrants’ integration, as the settlement of Italian newcomers had a major impact on the countryside and on local communities. The aim of this paper is to underline the specific characteristics of this massive immigration, especially its rural dimension, and to think through the implications of this specific case for our general insights into the integration process.

The general image of this Italian migration has long been that of a successful and swift assimilation, that is the complete disappearance of the migrant group into French society. It is commonly assumed that the Italians became integrated without any tensions. Interpreting the settlement process of these Italians as a ‘miracle’ of integration, however, ignores the many difficulties and conflicts, especially during the first decades of their stay. These representations overshadow the harshness of the migrants’ working and living conditions, while, on the other hand, individual success stories have been glorified. In a way such a reading of the past can be seen as the price migrants have to pay for their integration; the price one has to pay in order to lose one's status as a foreigner. Thus, it is a manner of imposing invisibility, of tolerating nothing but accepted differences.

To better understand the relations between the Italians and the indigenous French population in the South West, it is necessary to assess the reactions of public opinion at the time. Hence, the presentation will emphasise a plural approach combining an analysis of both the sociological dimension and the social discourse it generated. To do so, it is also essential to take into account the various systems of representation at work in southern French society.

Unlike other parts of France, like the East and the Paris region, until the beginning of the 1920s, there were very few Italians in southwestern France. They represented in general less than 5 % of the foreigners established in the different districts (départements) in a region where Spanish migrants were traditionally very numerous. The 1921 population census notes only 2,557 Italians in the territory of the current Midi-Pyrénées and Aquitaine regions, of which about 800 were located in the Gironde département.