Bologna has been getting ready for some months for an expected increase in the number of migrants it has to host. Since the beginning of the year, it has been expanding a tent camp outside the city gates.

The local prefecture says that the point of the endeavor is to have an emergency solution ready in case a significant number of migrants should arrive in Bologna and cannot immediately be housed in existing shelters.

Disconnect between central and local government

The topic of housing migrants has increasingly become and issue of political debate between cities with local center-left administrations, such as in Bologna, and the far-right central government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Bologna Mayor Matteo Lepore said in a local TV interview, that Bologna has already provided shelter for 3,500 migrants. But if the central governments were to place new limits on migrants -- such as abolishing the special protection status, "we could end up putting 400 people on the street," who currently are in the city.

Since other shelters are already at capacity, the mayor said he expects that the tent facilities will be put to use soon. He added that on top of that, there is also the issue of growing arrival numbers, which has led to a state of emergency being declared a week ago.

"The right is contradicting itself. It is creating a double emergency," the mayor said, denouncing the way that the central government in Rome is trying to manage the migration situation.

Mayor Lepore added that the government needed to enter a dialogue with local mayors, and said that "if there is the will to stop the propaganda and work seriously, we are here -- even under the current government."