Homeland and promised land between imagery and reality : the perception of Italy and Morocco through the eyes of Moroccan university students in Udine.

This contribution brings an analysis on a population of students of Mo- roccan descent at the University of Udine, that are now living or were raised in Italy. We analyse how their perception of Morocco has changed since moving to Italy and what imagery of Italy participants of this survey had before moving here. On the other hand, we examine what the imagery of Morocco is like in the eyes of those participants who consider Italy as their homeland. The main purpose is to compare the formal and nominal residency and identity with the personal perception of belonging and alterity, moreover to analyse which cultural traits the participants associate most with the Moroccan identity and to what extent. From an other point of view we are interested how food, considered to be “traditional”, corresponds with the sense of be- longing to the cultures and nationalities in question. The same focus will be on the linguistic competency and usage. We aim to answer to what extent living in Italy and Europe signifies an enrichment of the participants’ cultural and national self-awareness and how the different cultural and national influences, they have received through their life, have influenced them.