A strong local community identity often goes together with the rejection of refugees and other migrants. However, there is also the possibility that such a local identity actually stimulates the reception of refugees. Based on the social identity perspective and our ethnographic fieldwork we examine this possibility in the context of the small town of Riace in Southern Italy. The analysis demonstrates that there is a local identity of hospitality that is construed as a continuation of the town's past. This identity of local hospitality is enacted and maintained in various ways in the life of the town in which the mayor as an entrepreneur of the local identity plays a critical role. However, there are also some challenges to the future of the local identity of hospitality that relates to available financial resources and competition over local opportunities.

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This article uses the case of Riace, a small multiethnic community in Southern Italy, as a lens to evaluate key theoretical and methodological aspects of the influential Intergroup Contact Theory. The article draws upon 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Riace, Italy, a town that for more than 20 years has hosted and integrated refugees into the local community. We analyzed the ethnographic material in light of assumptions underlying intergroup contact theory. Findings demonstrate that friendly everyday interactions between inhabitants of different ethnic backgrounds serve as the critical “social glue” for the Riace community, but that there are social inequalities, as well as group stereotypes, group‐based friendships, and spatial segregation. The different interpretations and nuanced outcomes of everyday social interactions demonstrate the importance of a contextualized understanding of the nature and implications of intergroup contact in real‐world settings for future research and policies.

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