1. Can the category 'culture' (or religion) be used?	No. Mangel is an economic activity. It could be defined as the economic practice of asking, which is carried out in a public space and in an informal manner.
2. Description of the cultural (or religious) practice and group.	The practice of mangel consists of asking for a donation, almost always in money, in public places such as squares and streets in the city centre, or at the exit of busy places such as churches or markets, i.e. contexts where there may be a meeting between strangers. In Italy, this practice has developed since the 1980s, especially among Roma immigrants. It is an economic activity with clear social and political meanings, the result of an adaptation by the Roma to a context where it is difficult to have access to regulated work activities, and which therefore manifests clear power relations. According to the Roma, begging is a real work activity, practised mainly by women and characterised by knowledge of body techniques and other specific skills related to gestures. In the activity of begging, the person begging tells a story worthy of pity through posture, gestures, words and body behaviour, all following careful preparation, which is fundamental to the success of the activity. The 'construction' of a story and of a begging body is in fact a process, which requires study and analysis specific to work activities, and which needs to be constantly updated because it must take into account the changing context in which one operates. Roma groups make up 0.25% of the Italian population. They currently number around 150,000, of which just under half have Italian citizenship. They are an extremely heterogeneous reality, a 'world of worlds' (Piasere, 1999) living in different living contexts and working in extremely distinct activities. One feature they have in common is that they often live in a condition of marginality, both economic and social, which often leads them to be victims of discrimination.
​3. Embedding the individual practice in the broader cultural (or religious) system.	The Roma compare begging to a full-fledged labour activity, so it cannot be analysed as a culturally defined activity. Suffice it to say, for instance, that there is no Romani term for begging, but the activity of going begging is referred to with the expression av te mangav, 'going to work'. The mangel, therefore, is not to be understood as begging or charity, but rather as a specialised work activity, generally carried out by women with their children, who stay with their mothers throughout the day. Another element to take into account is that Roma children are used to being with their mothers on a daily basis until at least the age of ten, which is why a mother is used to taking her children with her even when begging. A mother who does not take her children to her activities is not considered a good mother in many Roma groups, and her behaviour could be interpreted as abandonment of the child. This aspect is very important to take into account if one wants to understand why children are widely present during this activity, and to avoid interpreting mangel as a Roma cultural trait that prevails over childhood. The activity of the mangel is read as economic and labour-intensive in that it is a 'gathering' activity traceable to the role of the Roma as 'contemporary hunter-gatherers' (Piasere 1995, p. 348). With the decline of productive activities related to the traditional Roma economy (e.g. horse-breeding, copper working, circus) due to urbanisation, the mangel represents a means of procuring a livelihood.
4. Is the practice essential (to the survival of the group), compulsory or optional?	It is an economic activity and, as such, necessary for sustenance. For some individuals, the practice of mangel is the only economic activity they engage in, and it is perceived as a livelihood activity and not an enrichment activity.
​5.     Is the practice shared by the group, or is it contested?	​Generally, Roma practice begging almost exclusively abroad, i.e. in the context of migration, where certain economic-social conditions and relations have been created that have led to the abandonment of traditional activities. Carrying out such activity at home, where they strive to create an image of themselves as good Gypsies who derive their livelihood from traditional activities, may be considered shameful in some contexts. From ethnographic studies, it is quite evident that the earnings of beggars are very low, generating an income close to the poverty line. In fact, it is the practice, once the amount needed for daily sustenance has been reached, to leave the mangel activity and return home to avoid, as we read in some ethnographic accounts, 'becoming rich'. It is also important to emphasise that there are no income differences between Roma women practising with children or without children. It is quite clear that the presence of children depends on the need to bring them along during the day, and not on the need to exploit an economic potential by arousing a greater feeling of pity during the activity of asking, as is often interpreted. The Roma parent has no interest in exposing their children to the risks to which children are subjected on the streets; in fact, the children, although often autonomous in the activity of begging, are always under the constant supervision of an adult.
​6.     How would the average person belonging to that culture (or religion) behave?	The link “Roma=begging”, which is often made by the gagé (a term used by the Roma to define non-Roma), is inevitably leading to a habit of subalternity on the part of Roma groups, who are paradoxically 'culturising' an activity that is purely economic. The difficulties of access to a regulated labour system, in fact, lead various Roma groups to become accustomed to the practice, to make it customary and thus to identify with it. The activity of the mangel enacts a clear imbalance in the power relations between the giver and the taker; it is a kind of negative reciprocity with a strong political dimension, which encapsulates a system of inequality and reproduction of a very large social distance that Roma groups are internalising.
​7.     Is the subject sincere?	In order to bring to light elements capable of affecting penal determinations, including a possible lesser degree of criminality and hence the granting of certain benefits, it might be useful to carry out some factual investigations: the impossibility for the parent, specifically the mother, to perform that activity without the presence of the child, particularly because of the close mother-child relationship typical of the culture under consideration; age of the minor (the majority jurisprudential interpretation excludes that the act is punishable when the minor is not capable of being conscious and perceiving the 'negative and diseducational' stimuli of begging); the state of need; the interference of the activity with the life of the child and the care of the child in the family context.
8.     The search for the cultural equivalent: the translation of the minority practice into a corresponding (Italian) majority practice. ​	Although it is difficult to give reliable figures on the diffusion of begging in Italy, it can be said that begging was a widespread phenomenon in the past, and that in the Middle Ages it was still seen with a positive value, as it was linked to the doctrine of charity, and thus a means for the giver to 'buy' the salvation of the soul. With the arrival of the modern state, the practice was subjected to various forms of sanctions, above all that of the Fascist era; at present, it is freely practised by Italians, although most are generally unaccompanied by minors, as is often the case among Roma groups.
9.      Does the practice cause harm? ​	The practice may cause harm, but only under certain conditions. Physical harm could occur in cases where the parent takes their children with them to beg even in adverse weather conditions. The possibility of psychological harm to the child would instead be closely linked to the conception that the cultural-family group to which the child belongs has of the practice itself. If, for example, the latter is not regarded as humiliating but rather as a natural way of finding resources in a state of need, it could be perceived as a normal habit also by the child and, although contrary to state norms, will not necessarily generate any psychological harm in the child. Another element that could affect the configuration of psychological harm is, for example, the degree to which the child is involved in the majority culture (e.g. attending school and peers belonging to majority groups) and the influence of the latter on the child's perception of the practice. Psychological harm would then be excluded if the child could not be aware of the activity performed by the parent, for instance because he or she was too young.
​10.  What impact does the minority practice have on the culture, constitutional values, and rights of the (Italian) majority?	The practice of mangel is perceived by the host group in two different ways. A part of the majority accepts the practice: it generates in one's neighbour a feeling of pity and empathy with respect to the state of need of others, is not considered detrimental to certain values, but rather affirms certain Christian values which are also coherent with the concept of solidarity between fellow citizens as set out in Article 2 of the Constitution. Begging is seen, from this position, as a peaceful way of redistributing wealth, where the state does not fully succeed in this task. In addition, begging is seen as a mechanism that prevents the Roma from committing crimes such as theft to procure a livelihood. The presence of minors in the mangel is seen by this position as a lesser evil than if the parent were criminally punished and the child loses contact with the parent as a result of incarceration. For another part of the majority, the practice generates discomfort and clashes with certain values. Firstly, it clashes with a conception of work as a duty and an instrument of personal and societal fulfillment: in fact, work is perceived positively because it is associated with the attainment of resources through effort, while begging corresponds to the obtaining of something in exchange for nothing, representing the attainment of an economic goal through the process of non-work. For this reason, the reports about beggars that are made by gagé citizens to the authorities are reports that are the result of a non-tolerance of the practice, that is, the expression of a disturbance that does not recognise an activity that, although lawful, is considered a nuisance. Secondly, when the practice involves minors, it clashes with values concerning the protection of childhood, an educational moment that in the majority culture must be characterised exclusively by play, carefreeness, health care and education. For the majority culture, in this case there is an exploitation of minors, symptomatic of 'bad parenting' that jeopardises the health and dignity of the child and takes him or her away from schooling. Thirdly, the practice clashes with the value of public safety, being seen as 'dangerous', especially when carried out in the presence of minors, because it is highly 'diseducational' and potentially capable of initiating minors into delinquency and idleness and thus, in the future, of generating a danger to social peace and public safety.   On a legal level, the practice is often defined by jurisprudence as 'cultural' - even in the absence of in-depth anthropological studies - and contravenes criminal law when it is exercised in a 'harassing' manner or is carried out through or with minors. In the first case, it is sanctioned as a misdemeanour, by Article 669 bis (Harassment of begging), a provision designed to protect public order and tranquillity. In the second case, it is related to more serious offences that protect individual personality and personal liberty, in particular Article 600 octies of the criminal code (Employment of minors in begging), which protects the psycho-physical liberty of minors. In addition to the mere impairment of psycho-physical freedom, some court rulings highlight how the practice is highly diseducational, depriving of education and 'predisposing to idleness and delinquency'. Despite the fact that, therefore, with some legislative amendments, the intention was to bring this practice back among the crimes that protect the person, it seems that in the majority view, even in terms of case law, the conduct is still sanctioned in a securitarian perspective that, albeit to a residual extent, refers to values such as tranquillity, public order or public safety rather than the mere protection of the individual personality of minors.
​11.   Does the practice perpetuate patriarchy?	It does not appear that the practice has any bearing on the perpetuation of patriarchy. Indeed, anthropological research shows that it is an activity intended for women in some groups, but in others reserved for men. Moreover, the latter often participate in other ways in the practice, e.g. by patrolling the public space where the activity takes place, to ensure a form of security.
12.  What good reasons does the minority present for continuing the practice? The criterion of an equally valid life choice.	Behind this practice are clear forms of power configuration, and there is an obvious condition of subalternity to which the Roma themselves are becoming accustomed. The reports to the authorities made by the majority, accompanied by the constant debate in public opinion on the subject, are leading to a 'culturalisation' of the practice, i.e. a self-representation of the Roma as beggars, who are moving from carrying out an economic practice to identifying themselves with it culturally as well, making it their own identity characteristic. It could therefore be said, in line with what the anthropologist Leonardo Piasere argues, that the choice to practise these working techniques is an adaptive response to the context, the result of encounter-clash processes with the majority. In this encounter, the Roma seek to fill those marginal spaces and activities where less attention is attracted, occupying "that niche that the imperfection of the law of supply and demand always leaves empty" (1999, p. 94), and identifying themselves in this role.