Types of accommodation

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At the end of 2024, the number of asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection in the reception system was 139,141, only slightly less than in 2023, when it was 139,388, but significantly more than in 2022, when it was 107,677 and to 2021, when 78,644 migrants were present.^[1]

Out of the total number, 37,678 between asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection were hosted SAI centres.^[2]

According to the data shared by MOI after a FOIA data request, at the end of 2024, 3,724 were in governmental centres, 95,453 in CAS and 461 in hotspot. No data were available about the number of people accommodated in CASP (provisional CAS).

The numbers clearly show that, at the end of 2024, 7 out of 10 asylum applicants were still accommodated in extraordinary centres.

Source: Ministry of Interior, Cruscotto statistico giornaliero.

The Ministry of Interior responded to the FOIA data request made by ASGI that the number of CAS facilities is 6,042; the number of governmental centres facilities is 3,540, and the number of hotspots is 13.

Data shows that, during these years, the emergency system continues to grow at the expense of an ordinary management system. In 2021 CAS facilities were 4,216.

Following the 2023 reform, the reception system is comprised of first governmental centres, temporary centres (CAS), provisional centres (CASP new from the 2023 reform), and SAI centres.

Decree Law 124/2023, converted into L. 162/2023, entrusted the Ministry of Defence with the creation of reception centres, hotspots and CPRs.^[4] For the realisation of such facilities the law also provides that the Ministry of Defence is authorised to make use of the “highest urgency procedures and civil protection procedures” (pursuant to art. 140 of Legislative Decree 31 March 2023, no. 36).

At the same time, the law provides that, by Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers, upon proposal of the Ministers of the Interior and Defence, in agreement with the Minister of Economy and Finance, the extraordinary plan for the identification of the areas interested in the creation of a suitable number of hotspots, CPR, government centres and CAS, also through the valorisation of existing properties, will be approved.^[5]

As underlined by a study, these new provisions have a significant weight because “facilities for migrants, without distinction, from those aimed at reception to those dedicated to detention and deprivation of liberty, will be implemented by adopting “highly urgent procedures”, thus crystallising the systemic emergency approach. Centres and structures will be built on the basis of a plan adopted by the Council of Ministers based on the indications provided by the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Defence, in contrast with what it is provided for by the Reception Decree in terms of planning and consultation, and forgetting that «the reception system for applicants for international protection is based on fairness collaboration between the different levels of government involved” (art. 8 Legislative Decree no. 142/2015)”.^[6]

From this point of view, it is worrying that, as mentioned, in response to the FOIA request for access to data relating to reception measures made by ASGI, the Ministry of the Interior has announced that it does not possess the data relating to the CASPs as they are not subject to central collection.^[7]

First aid and identification: CPSA / Hotspots

The Reception Decree states that for ‘rescue, first aid and identification needs’, people can be placed in the so called crisis points set up in the principal places of disembarkation and in governmental centres.^[8] These are First Aid and Reception Centres (CPSA),^[9] created in 2006 for the purposes of first aid and identification before persons are transferred to other centres, and now formally operate as Hotspots.^[10] According to the SOPs, persons should stay in these centres “for the shortest possible time”, but in practice they are accommodated for days or weeks.

By the end of 2024, 13 hotspots were operating in the south of Italy: Apulia (1), Sicily (8) and Calabria (4).

The table shared by the MOI responding to a Foia request made by ASGI in January 2025, gives more details:

Decree-Law 20/2023 provided that, up to 31 December 2025, the Lampedusa hotspot could be managed by the Italian Red Cross, in derogation from the rules on tendering procedures.^[11] This provision became necessary following the continuous mismanagement issues registered in the facility (see Conditions in hotspots), in order to ensure the functionality of a structure considered fundamental to the Italian system. The same Decree also provided for the possibility for the Government to activate new hotspot facilities throughout the national territory, with the same functions of identification, selection and administrative detention, again in derogation from the rules relating to tender procedures.^[12] The identification of suitable locations to host new hotspots and their activation has been entrusted to the Extraordinary Commissioner appointed by the Government as part of the declaration of the state of emergency.^[13]

The opening a new hotspot in Friuli Venezia-Giulia, probably in Trieste, to manage the identification and detention of migrants reaching Italy through the Balkan Route, was announced in 2023.^[14] However, no further information is available, and it is likely this plan will not move forward.

Governmental first reception centres

The Reception Decree provides that the governmental first reception centres are managed by public local entities, consortia of municipalities and other public or private bodies, specialised in the assistance of asylum applicants, selected through public tender.^[15]

Responding to the FOIA request made by ASGI, the Ministry of Interior informed that, at 31 December 2024, 9 first reception centres are established in the following regions in Italy:

Source: MoI.

The Hub centre located in Bologna, Mattei, is now classified as CAS. Other governmental centres working as first accommodation facilities but not classified as first governmental centres by MoI are the one of Fernetti, in Trieste, called Casa Malala, and the one in Pordenone, Caserma Monti, both in Friuli Venezia Giulia.^[17]

On 31 December 2024 the occupancy of these centres exceeded the capacity because, with a capacity of 3,540, these hosted 3,724 asylum applicants.^[18]

Temporary facilities: CAS

In case of temporary unavailability of places in the first reception centres, the Reception Decree provides the use of Emergency Reception Centres (centri di accoglienza straordinaria, CAS). The CAS system, originally designed as a temporary measure to prepare for transfer to second-line reception, expanded in recent years to the point of being entrenched in the ordinary system. The Reception Decree adopted in August 2015 missed the opportunity to actually change the system and simply renamed these centres from “emergency centres” to “temporary facilities” (strutture temporanee).

The CAS are identified and activated by the Prefectures, in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior. Following Decree Law 113/2018, CAS facilities can be activated only after obtaining the opinion of the local authority on whose territory the structures will be set up.^[19] The law does not condition activation upon obtaining a favourable opinion, it only says that an opinion should be requested.

Activation is reserved for emergency cases of substantial arrivals, but applies in practice to all situations in which, as it is currently the case, capacity in ordinary centres is not sufficient to meet the reception demand.

The term CAS is a formal classification related to the temporary function of the reception facility but does not in itself define its nature. The forms that a CAS facility can take are in fact extremely varied, going from small apartments that managing bodies rent from private citizens to collective centres organised within entire buildings, from camps organised with containers and tents to former army barracks. The tender specifications scheme, in fact, provides for the possibility of setting up CAS in “single housing units”, in collective centres with less than 50 places, centres with a capacity between 50 and 300 places, or collective centres with more than 300 places.^[20]

Following the reform of the accommodation system made by Decree Law 20/2023, the CAS are specifically designed for the first accommodation phase and no longer conceived as temporary solutions for the time “strictly necessary” until the transfer of asylum applicants to the SAI system.^[21] The services guaranteed are the same as in the first reception centres (see Forms and Levels of Material Reception Conditions).^[22]

By the end of 2024, there were 6,042 CAS facilities for adults on the Italian territory.^[23]

The table below shows their distribution across Italy:

As highlighted above (see Forms and Levels of Material Reception Conditions), following the 2018 MoI tender specification schemes most of the small CAS facilities were forced to close, leaving the accommodation scene to large centres managed by profit organisations or big social cooperatives.

The fact that most available places are currently in CAS illustrates a reception policy based on leaving asylum applicants in emergency accommodation during the entire asylum procedure.

Provisional centres (CASP)

L. 50/2023 introduced a new type of reception facilities, the provisional centres, which only provide basic services, pending the identification of available places in governmental centres or in CAS. Thus, reception for asylum applicants may be arranged by Prefect, for the time strictly necessary, in provisional structures where just food, lodging, clothing, health care and linguistic-cultural mediation are the services ensured.^[24] The regulatory provision^[25] is included within the law governing temporary centres (CAS) even if these centres are conceived as structures to be used for the “strictly necessary time” to identify available places in the government centres or in CAS facilities.

Significantly, the tender specifications for CASPs do not even provide the mandatory presence of social workers, but only those of the day/night operators and the cultural mediators. The scheme merely provides for an almost doubled number of hours for linguistic mediation:

The provision presents both positive and critical aspects. On one hand, it could offer greater protection pending the identification of suitable reception places, as it makes it easier to find structures and bodies capable of offering this type of service; on the other hand, it could lead to asylum applicants being hosted in centres providing lower standards in terms of reception conditions for indefinite periods of time.

The few, official, experiences of CASP in Italy so far are not reassuring.^[26] As emerges from a recent investigation, these are, “in most cases, encampments consisting of tents or containers, or even rows of cots in former disused barracks, hamlets of airports or gyms” which mainly “are located several kilometres from inhabited centres, in the countryside and in industrial areas. (..) places of promiscuity, where women, men, families, unaccompanied minors live together”.^[27]

As mentioned, the MoI responded to the FOIA request made by ASGI in February 2025, indicating that data on Casps is not available, as they are not collected by MoI.

The same problem was highlighted by Openpolis and Actionaid in their last report on the accommodation system in Italy.  However, thanks to the cooperation with the organisation CIAC onlus, it was possible to identify that 4 temporary structures were activated during 2023. 3 out of these were included as CAS for adult asylum seekers in the data released by the MoI: 2 temporary centers in the municipality of Parma (“Martorano” with a capacity of 100 places and one with a capacity of 8 places) and one in the municipality of Varano de’ Melegari, with a capacity of 24 places.[28]

Second reception – SAI system

The SAI system (Reception and Integration System, Sistema di Accoglienza e Integrazione), is dedicated mainly to beneficiaries of international protection and unaccompanied minors.^[29]

SAI projects can also accommodate: victims of trafficking; domestic violence and serious exploitation; persons issued a residence permit for medical treatment, or natural calamity in the country of origin, or for acts of particular civic value,^[30] holders of special protection, holders of a permit for special cases (former humanitarian protection),^[31] and former unaccompanied minors, who obtained a prosecution of assistance.^[32] Holders of special protection, when in case of application of the international protection exclusion clauses, are instead excluded.

Law 50/2023, which converted Decree Law 20/2023, once again (as in 2018) excluded asylum applicants from the possibility to access the SAI system. Access to the SAI is now only possible for asylum applicants identified as vulnerable and to those who have legally entered Italy through complementary pathways (Government-led resettlements or private sponsored humanitarian admission programs).

Women are now also included among vulnerable asylum applicants, with priority given to pregnant women.^[33]

The activation of SAI reception projects depends on funding provided directly by the Ministry of the Interior (and not by the Prefectures, as for CAS and first reception centres) to the local authority. The latter must voluntarily apply to host a reception project in its territory and submit a detailed project to the Ministry, asking for funding. The application is evaluated by a commission and, if deemed appropriate, the local project is financed for a period usually equal to 3 years. At the end of the period financed, the Municipality holder of the project can ask the Ministry for a new three-year funding.^[34]

SAI projects, even if more stable than CAS as they are based on multi annual funding that promotes the quality of interventions, are by nature “more fragile”, because adherence to the SAI system and the maintenance of such projects are entirely dependent on the will of local administrations.^[35] As mentioned, the decision by the Governments to maintain these projects in existence solely based on a voluntary adhesion by municipalities constitutes an important limitation to their widespread distribution on the national territory, which does not go in the direction of greater availability of places in this system and does not facilitate immediate access to the system, even for the limited number of asylum applicants who would be entitled to it.

On 31 December 2024, the SAI network comprised 879 projects, decreased from the 914 existing in 2023 for a total of 38,696 places financed (increased if compared to the 37,920 of 2023), of which: 31,953 places for ordinary beneficiaries, 5,977places for unaccompanied minors and 766 places for people living with mental health conditions or physical disability.^[36]

As previously mentioned, the opening of a SAI project depends on the sole will of the local administration responsible (mostly municipalities), so there is no proportional distribution in Italy: this means that the presence of SAI projects on the territory is uneven.

Even though the SAI system has been slowly but constantly expanded throughout the country in the 20 years since it was set up,^[37] the total amount of available places is still largely inadequate to meet the existing needs. Furthermore, historically, the number of SAI seats funded by the Government and the number of SAI seats active and available differ by several thousands. This has been happening because of bureaucratic delays as well as organisational and logistical issues.

As of December 2024, out of the total places financed, 507 were not occupied.^[38]

Data shows that SAI often are concentrated in Southern Italy and, worryingly, that 10 out of 21 regions do not have places for vulnerable asylum applicants or beneficiaries of international protection.^[39]

This has led, even in 2024, to situations in which the vulnerable asylum seekers or beneficiaries of international protection were denied to entry in SAI and were notified the cessation of accommodation measure in CAS after the recognition of international protection.

On 22 June 2024, the Administrative Court of Trieste (Friuli Venezia Giulia) suspended the decision to terminate the reception measures taken against a refugee with mental health problems for whom an adequate SAI project could not be found, considering it necessary, in any case, to give priority to the to the protection of the applicant’s person, exposed to serious and irreparable damage in the event of interruption of the necessary support in reception.^[40]

On 6 February 2025, the Administrative Court of Naples (Campania) ordered the Ministry of Interior to immediately arrange for the applicant to be placed in a structure without delay, “other” than the one (CAS) in which he is currently hosted, adapted to his peculiar conditions of physical and mental discomfort.^[41]

Nel 2021, the Regional Administrative Court for Marche had already significantly stated that “the shortage of places in projects dedicated to taking care of vulnerable people due to pathologies pertaining to the psychic sphere or the lack of adherence by local authorities to this type of projects cannot be to the detriment of those who need hospitality. It is necessary to ensure a coordinated intervention of all administrations involved so that the psycho-socio-health protection that the 2019 Guidelines have identified as a minimum compulsory service in the field of reception is guaranteed”.^[42]

Private accommodation with families and churches

In addition to the abovementioned reception centres, there is also a network of private accommodation facilities which are not part of the national public reception system, provided for example by Catholic or voluntary associations, which support several asylum applicants and refugees.

It is very difficult to ascertain the number of available places in these forms of reception. The function of these structures is relevant especially in emergency cases or as integration pathways, following or in lieu of accommodation in S.A.I.

Other projects financed by municipalities or AMIF funds and directed at accommodating families and unaccompanied minors have begun. Some examples are provided below.

In Bologna, for example, the VESTA project, conceived and developed by the Camelot Social Cooperative is operational. The project, designed mainly for beneficiaries of international and special protection who reach the age of majority, provides a contribution towards the costs to the host family.^[43]

The OHANA project, financed by AMIF fund, is developing accommodation for families of unaccompanied minors in the cities of Turin, Milan, Pavia, Venice, Verona Padova, Pordenone, Rome, Bari, Catania and Palermo.^[44]

The NGO Refugees Welcome Italia promotes numerous initiatives of “welcome in the family” for protection holders who have had to abandon the public reception system, in particular to those who have not found a place in the SAI or have had to leave before the actual conclusion of their path of social inclusion. Refugees Welcome has developed over the years a significant network on the Italian territory, putting itself in relation both with the authorities of the reception centres and with numerous municipal administrations.^[45]

^[1]          MOI Cruscotto statistico giornaliero, available here.

^[2]          Source: MoI Cruscotto statistico giornaliero, available here.

^[3]          This total number is different from the one indicated in the table published by Moi and it is calculated basing on the answer given by MOI to the FOIA request for data. It does not contain people accommodated in CASP

^[4]          Article 21 (1) Decree Law 124/2023 converted into L. 162/2023.

^[5]          Article 21 (2) Decree Law 124/2023 converted into L. 162/2023

^[6]     M. Giovannetti, Il prisma dell’accoglienza: la disciplina del sistema alla luce della legge n. 50/2023, in Questione Giustizia, available in Italian at: https://acesse.dev/zt1rw.

^[7]          MoI response to the FOIA request sent by ASGI to the Ministry of Interior in February 2025.

^[8]          Article 8(2) Reception Decree as amended by DL 20/2023 converted into L. 50/2023, and Article 10 ter TUI.

^[9]          L 563/1995.

^[10]         Article 10-ter TUI, inserted by Article 17 Decree Law 13/2017 and L 46/2017.

^[11]         Article 5-bis (2) Decree Law 20/2023 converted with modifications into Law 50/2023.

^[12]         Article 5-bis (3) Decree Law 20/2023 converted with modifications into Law 50/2023.

^[13]         Article 2 (1a) Decree of the Chief of the Department of Civil Protection 984/2023.

^[14]         See RAI, Hotspot sulla Rotta balcanica. L’ex prefetto di Trieste Valenti pianifica struttura sul territorio, 15 January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/43bUv5a.

^[15]         Article 9(2) Reception Decree.

^[16]         Source: MoI response to the FOIA made by ASGI.

^[17]         See MoI, available at: https://bit.ly/3y4dbFm.

^[18]         Source: MoI response to the FOIA made by ASGI

^[19]         Article 11 (2) Reception Decree, as amended by Article 12 Decree Law 113/2018 and L 132/2018. Prior to the reform, the law provided that the local authorities should only be notified and issue a non-binding opinion.

^[20]         See new Tender Specification Schemes, Ministerial Decree 4 March 2024. Schemes and Decree available at: bit.ly/3JU5KaZ.

^[21]         Article 11 (3) Reception Decree, as amended by Decree Law 20/2023.

^[22]         Articles 10 (1) and 1 1(2) Reception Decree.

^[23]         MoI response to the FOIA request made by ASGI.

^[24]         Article 11 (2 bis) Reception Decree introduced by L 50/2023.

^[25]         Article 11 ( 2 bis) Reception Decree

^[26]         Michele Rossi, “Cornocchio e Martorano (Parma). Two fields lived up close”, in RiVolti ai Balcani, Chiusi Dentro, Altreconomia, Milan, 2024.

^[27]         Cf. Antonia Ferri, Irpi Media, “The Casp tell us where the reception of migrants in Italy is going”, 12 July 2024, available in Italian here.

[28]        Actionaid and Openpolis report, Accoglienza al collasso, Centri d’Italia 2024, published in March 2025, available here.

^[29]       According to Article 1-sexies DL 416/1989, as amended by DL 130/2020, local authorities responsible for the SAI projects “can” host in such projects also asylum seekers and beneficiaries of special protection or other protection titles.

^[30]         Article 1 sexies (1) DL 416/1989, as amended by DL 130/2020, citing Articles 18, 18-bis, 19(2)(d-bis), 20, 22(12-quater) and 42-bis TUI. The statuses in Articles 20 and 42-bis had been inserted by Decree Law 113/2018.

^[31]         Ibid, mentioning Articles 1 (9) DL 113/2018 (special cases); Article 19, (1, 1.1) TUI, amended by DL 130/2020.

^[32]         Article 1 sexies (1 bis) DL 416/1989, introduced by DL 130/2020. In some CAS, according to the law unaccompanied minors becoming adults can benefit from further assistance (accommodation and help) up to 21 years. It is called “prosieguo amministrativo”, administrative continuation.

^[33]         Article 17 (1) LD 142/2015.

^[34]         The funding application and assessment mechanism for the project is governed by the Ministerial Decree 18 November 2019.

^[35]        For a recent analysis of the impact of political preferences on the political willingness to open reception facilities, see the significant contribution from Gamalerio and Negri, Not welcome anymore: the effect of electoral incentives on the reception of refugees, in Journal of Economic Geography, available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbad002.

^[36]         See SAI general data, 31 December 2024, available here.

^[37]         See Rapporto Annuale SAI 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3Z9qQbt.

^[38]         See SAI general data, 31 December 2024, available here.

^[39]         See SAI general data, 31 December 2024, available here.

^[40]         Administrative Court of Trieste, interim decision no. 46/2024, published on 22 June 2024.

^[41]         Administrative Court of Naples (Campania), decision no. 270/2025, published on 6 February 2025.

^[42]         Administrative Court for Marche, decision no. 632/2021, published on 2 August 2021.

^[43]         Bologna, Camelot presenta Vesta, per ospitare rifugiati in famiglia, available at: https://bit.ly/3y9ALDf.

^[44]         Ohana project, see: https://bit.ly/3jD0v28.

^[45]         Source Refugees Welcome Italia, Cosa facciamo, available at: https://bit.ly/42pAXdA.