Silvia Finzi yells in Tunisian Arabic to her secretary down the hall before turning to her colleague and switching to Italian. Sitting in her office on Avenue de la Liberté in downtown Tunis, Finzi sighs, lights a cigarette and apologizes, “A busy day,” she explains, in impeccable French.

Finzi is one of the last of what she calls “la Tunisie plurielle” — the multi-ethnic Tunisia that prevailed for about a decade after the country gained independence in 1956. She descends from an Italian family that has lived in Tunisia for five generations. Once the country’s largest foreign community, Italian Tunisians, and their heritage, began to dwindle in the mid-20th century.

The history of Italian migration to Tunisia has mostly been forgotten, though it is not dissimilar to that of the many Tunisians now attempting to reach Italy, Finzi observed. During Italy’s last parliamentary elections, she campaigned vigorously to oppose Matteo Salvini and his far right Lega Nord.

Salvini’s victory and the unnerving climate of xenophobia it unleashed deeply troubles Finzi, especially since he was quick to berate Tunisia and Tunisians. Forty-eight hours after Salvini's nomination to be interior minister, he called Tunisia an “exporter of galeotti,” “galeotti” being Italian for “criminal convicts.” His comment sparked a brief diplomatic crisis between the two countries. It also struck a sensitive cord as it coincided with the sinking of a boat overloaded with Tunisian migrants near the Kerkennah Islands that left 122 dead.