Mani Visibili works to provide a platform for community-building and connection; however, this is one of many steps to improve individual and collective experiences. Our organization works to provide up-to-date resources for immigration law, asylum appeals, labor rights abuse reporting, unfair dismissal, discrimination, family reunification, and more.
Our resources include legal networks organized to assist on a state-supported or volunteer basis, offering services by legal professionals at a lower price point or free of charge. Additionally, we provide a set of key local unions and reporting agencies that will advocate and investigate on behalf of employees or individuals.
Learn more here about your legal working rights in Italy and the Tuscan region
Legal Assistance
The Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration (ASGI) is a nonprofit association founded in 1990 by a group of lawyers, legal scholars, and academics with a shared focus on immigration, asylum, and citizenship law. Unlike a trade union, ASGI functions primarily as a legal research and advocacy body: it studies and disseminates information on immigration-related law through publications and a dedicated legal journal and pursues strategic litigation and legislative advocacy to challenge laws it views as discriminatory. ASGI is formally registered with Italy's Ministry of Labor and Social Policies as an organization operating in support of immigrants, and is legally authorized to act in court on behalf of victims of racial or ethnic discrimination. ASGI provides legal expertise, documentation, and strategic case support central to immigration and anti-discrimination law in Italy. The association can directly connect individuals with legal support that best fits their needs.
Caritas Firenze, operating through the Fondazione Solidarietà Caritas ETS, provides reception and support services for asylum seekers, refugees, and vulnerable migrants in the Florence area. Through its Extraordinary Reception Centers (CAS) and the national SAI (Reception and Integration System), it offers essential services including housing, food, healthcare access, and legal orientation to help individuals navigate the international protection request process. Caritas also runs a general legal consultation desk (Consulenza Legale) addressing common concerns among migrants, particularly residence permit renewals, family reunification, and assistance with immigration and civil registry offices.
C.I.A.O. (Centro Informazione Ascolto Orientamento) is a Florence-based volunteer association that’s work centers on legal orientation, bureaucratic assistance, and reintegration support, particularly for people navigating residence permits, expulsion proceedings, and appeals — including cases brought before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The association also runs a daily walk-in desk offering initial needs assessment, general orientation on community resources, and civil registry assistance without appointment requirements. Alongside its legal and orientation services, C.I.A.O. manages reintegration housing for people transitioning out of incarceration, under agreement with the Comune di Firenze, as well as job orientation support more broadly.
Unions & Organizations
The Italian Confederation of Trade Unions (CISL) was founded in 1950 with the aim to defend and protect workers’ rights. Through its "Uffici Vertenze" (Labor Dispute Offices), CISL handles payslip and severance discrepancies, wrongful dismissal, disciplinary disputes, wage recovery, and protections for precarious or irregular workers. CISL also operates ANOLF, a service arm dedicated to immigrant workers, offering assistance with residence permits, family reunification, and support navigating the immigration bureaucracy. Legal assistance is provided through affiliated lawyers who apply reduced professional rates. Additionally, their sportello lavoro (work help desk) offers free consulting on legal issues.
Firenze | Prato
The Italian General Confederation of Labor (CGIL) is Italy’s oldest and largest trade union that works to protect and defend workplace rights. Its immigration service arm handles labor rights complaints, unpaid wages, illegal contracts (lavoro nero), safety violations, and unfair dismissal.
The CGIL’s Legal Offices provide technical, contractual and legal assistance, and where necessary, promote and manage, if necessary work with affiliated lawyers pursue legal actions before the competent judiciary. When required, the union works directly with the National Inspector of Labor (INL) to investigate conditions, enter workplaces, and check contracts if so required.
Firenze
Firenze
The Italian Labor Union (UIL) is one of Italy's three major trade union confederations, working to protect and represent workers across both traditional and precarious forms of employment. Through ITAL, its patronato, UIL provides free assistance with social security benefits, workplace injuries, unemployment, and support for non-EU workers navigating Italian bureaucracy. UIL also runs immigration-specific services offering free consultation and assistance with residence permits, family reunification, Italian language test bookings, and applications for regularizing undocumented work. For individual workplace disputes, UIL provides legal assistance through specialized affiliated lawyers, alongside dedicated help desks for atypical and precarious workers.