Italy & Romania: Investigating perceptions between peoples

A research project called “Mutual Perception of Image between Italians and Romanians” and piloted by the IULM University of Milan has showed that the Italian perception of Romanians has worsened.

The research focused on:

– the mutual perception of the citizens belonging to the two nations,

– the mutual perception of the respective migration (Romanians in Italy and Italians in Romania)

– the analysis on Italian and Romanian media and their approach to the news regarding these countries.

Through this study they were able to quantify how the negative perception of Romanians in Italy has increased from 20% to 30% since 2005. In the same way it has been estabished that there has been a 5% decline in the reputation of Italians in Romania.

Despite changes in the social and economic context since 2005, when the ITRO Observatory published its first study, not all of the indicators used to identify image perceptions between the two countries gave negative results.

The current research reveals that 72% of Romanians and 63% of Italians still have perceive positive images of each other.

The Romanian government has launched an intense advertising campaign, Romania, pleased to meet you, to improve the reciprocity of cultural knowledge and it was presented last weekend at the European Exhibition of Public Communications and services to the Citizens and Business (COMPA) in Milan.

Find out more: VitaEurope TV