The number of school children with an immigrant background has increased steadily during the past decade, changing the ethnic composition of Milan primary and secondary schools. The article deals with school segregation in Milan, exploring some driving-forces behind this phenomenon (residential segregation; demographic gap between Italians and immigrants; role of parental strategies in order to ensure the reproduction of class advantages for their children) and suggesting low residential segregation does not necessarily translate into moderate school segregation. Immigrant students are not distributed equally among the city and schools with very different percentages of immigrant pupils are sometimes located only a short distance.
Keywords: Immigration, urban segregation, school, middle classes, Milan.