Nico Tonti – Ricercatore in tenure track di Diritto ecclesiastico e canonico nell’Università di Bologna Alma Mater Studiorum, Dipartimento di Scienze Giuridiche
SOMMARIO
1. Religious freedom, clothing, and personal identity. Why the Italian legal order?
2. Concealing and non-concealing clothing: a preliminary distinction.
3. Concealing clothing and public space: security-driven tensions (and distortions) …
3.1. … in particular: the intervention of certain local administrations.
4. The contested choice of the Lombardy Region regarding religiously connoted clothing.
5. A look beyond the Alps: The French case in particular.
6. The first case study. Religious clothing in public schools: a comparison of legal systems.
7. The second case study. The employment relationship and the right to dress according to one’s religious convictions.
8. The third case study. The identifying function of identity documents.
9. Sikh clothing: in particular, the kirpan and the dastar. A synoptic look at Italy, Great Britain, and Canada.
10. Religious clothing and sporting activity.
11. An open conclusion.
This article examines the regulation of religiously connoted clothing within the Italian legal order. Starting from the preliminary distinction between concealing and non-concealing garments, the inquiry reconstructs the application of public order provisions (Article 85 T.U.L.P.S. and Article 5 of Law no. 152 of 1975), the interventions of local and regional administrations – with particular regard to Lombardy resolution no. X/4553 of 2015 – and the French paradigm founded on a general prohibition of facial concealment. Three case studies, devoted to public schools, the employment relationship and the identifying function of identity documents, together with the analysis of Sikh clothing and sporting activity, show that the question exceeds the dimension of public order and concerns the recognition of the citizen-believer’s identity, within the conventional framework shaped by the Strasbourg Court through the margin of appreciation.
Keywords: religious clothing, religious freedom, Islamic veil, margin of appreciation, secularism.
Il contributo esamina la disciplina dell’abbigliamento religiosamente connotato nell’ordinamento italiano. Muovendo dalla distinzione preliminare tra indumenti occultanti e non occultanti, l’indagine ricostruisce l’applicazione delle disposizioni in materia di ordine pubblico (art. 85 T.U.L.P.S. e art. 5 della legge n. 152 del 1975), gli interventi di amministrazioni locali e regionali – con particolare riguardo alla delibera lombarda n. X/4553 del 2015 – e il paradigma francese fondato sul divieto generale di dissimulazione del volto. Tre casi concreti, rispettivamente dedicati alla scuola pubblica, al rapporto di lavoro e alla funzione identificativa dei documenti, insieme all’analisi dell’abbigliamento sikh e dell’attività sportiva, mostrano come la questione ecceda in realtà la dimensione dell’ordine pubblico per investire il riconoscimento dell’identità del cittadino-fedele.
Parole chiave: abbigliamento religioso, libertà religiosa, velo islamico, margine di apprezzamento, laicità.