Law Enforced Banning Burkas

Justice Minister Roberto Castelli issued a reminder last week that it is illegal to wear the traditional head-to-toe burka covering and that women who do have it on in public should be fined. A law that bans Italians from wearing any head coverings that might impede their identification has been on the books in Italy since its Fascist period. Although enforcement of this law may have been lax in recent years, the issue recently came to attention again when a northern Italian woman, who had converted to Islam, was fined last September for wearing a burka in public.