Italy has a sizeable immigrant population with a total of 3,035,144 individuals with stay permit in December 2005 and an influx of 319,300 in 2004.

In this immigration scene, there are two groups of people at particular risk of exclusion: refugees escaping danger to their lives and the special category of unaccompanied minors, i.e., youngsters under 18 years of age who arrive in Italy seeking to improve their living conditions, including security from war or political problems. These groups of people arrive in Italy, leaving behind their countries and often travelling long and adventurous distances. 

In 2006, the Fondazione Mondo Digitale begun addressing these very disadvantaged sectors of the population through project Double Code (Doppio Codice), a pilot ICT-based course of Italian for young unaccompanied minors and, more recently, in 2007, through its involvement in the nascent Centre Enea for Refugees.