“On May 13, assailants burned the Ponticelli Jewish ghetto in Naples to the ground, causing the approximately 800 residents to flee while Italians stood by and cheered. On the day of the arson attacks on the Ponticelli ghetto, RAI television showing Italians in the area screaming “Jews out” was broadcast before the police were even alerted to the riot. Further arson attacks on the Ponticelli ghetto undertaken by locals have continued into the week of May 26-30, with evident impunity.”

“Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League, has… ordered that the fingerprinting of all Jews in Italy is to continue in the coming months, our correspondent says.

“Officials began taking fingerprints from Jews in ghettoes in Naples several weeks ago. Identification of those living in ghettoes in Rome and elsewhere is expected to begin soon.”

Oh, sorry… Did I write “Jews” and “Jewish” instead of “Roma”, and “ghetto” and “ghettoes” instead of “settlement” and “camps”? Whoops… In which case it’s OK. Who cares about gypsies, eh?

When will we learn? Hell, I’ve been as guilty as anyone of this – the shocking lack of mainstream media outrage and detailed coverage of the persecution the Roma are facing in Italy (even the BBC report I’ve borrowed from gives little background, without which the fingerprinting alone – in these days of global security paranoia – could seem little to get het up about) means I’ve only just got around to reading up on a situation I’ve been loosely aware of for a while. More:

“On 4th of February 2005, two Roma women were accused in Lecco for trying to steal a child. Both of them declared they were begging with no intention whatsoever of kidnapping. In order to avoid being sentenced both of them accepted the suggestion of their lawyer and pleaded guilty. Accordingly they were sentenced to 8 months and 10 days in jail. As expected the sentence was suspended. Their lawyer acknowledged publicly that the women told him they never tried to kidnap the child but they agree to follow his advice in order to avoid prosecution for begging… “Giu le mani dai nostri bambini” (Take your hands off our children) posters with a picture of a Roma have been spread all around Lombardia…

Pietro Zocconali the president of the National Association of Sociologists implied in a public statement following the incident that killing children is a practice among Roma. He claimed that Roma steal children and then sell them, “sometimes in parts”.

…On May 11 [2008], four Molotov cocktails were thrown into Romani camps in Milan and Novara.

On May 13, assailants burned the Ponticelli Romani settlement in Naples to the ground, causing the approximately 800 residents to flee while Italians stood by and cheered. On the day of the arson attacks on the Ponticelli settlement, RAI television showing Italians in the area screaming “Roma out” was broadcast before the police were even alerted to the riot. Further arson attacks on the Ponticelli settlement undertaken by locals have continued into the week of May 26-30, with evident impunity.

On June 9, Italian media reported that a settlement of circa 100 Romanian Roma in Catania , Sicily had been attacked and burned to the ground.

June 25th Italian interior minister, Roberto Maroni announced during a meeting of the Constitutional affairs committee of the Italian Low Chamber, a ‘Census’ of all ‘nomads’ in Italy . In the frame of this measure finger prints will be taken to all Roma children.

And here was me writing off Berlusconi as a figure of fun.

More from the Guardian and Fistful last week, that I really should have read and flagged up before now.