Disparities in Religious Instruction: The Unequal Landscape of Italian Public Schools

Despite Italy’s growing religious pluralism, access to religious education in public schools remains unequal. Catholic Religious Instruction (CRI) is fully integrated, publicly funded, and supervised by ecclesiastical authorities, while other denominations face structural disadvantages, and those without an Intesa are excluded. Students opting out of CRI often lack meaningful alternatives, despite constitutional guarantees. The recent introduction of a compulsory ethics course in Bolzano aims to address this imbalance but raises questions of compatibility with Constitutional Court rulings. The paper argues for a rethinking of Italy’s model toward a more inclusive and pluralistic educational system.