The article deals with the transformation of ethnic and multiethnic neighborhoods into tourist and commercial spaces, through the commodification of diversity: a phenomenon which is well known in traditional countries of immigration, but which is gaining importance in European countries as well. In the first part, relationships between immigrant groups and other urban populations are considered, underlying their extemporary characters, and the repulsion-attraction theme, linked to the topics of risk and Otherness. In the second part the duplicity of the discourse on ethnic identity is taken into consideration, as a frame in which immigrants and autochthons relations are structured. In the last part, the phenomenon is taken into account in a more analytical way, putting emphasis on its positive and negative effects, taking as examples different geographical contexts and migratory models.