On Wednesday, February 18, Ramadan officially began. It is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and commemorates the first revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad. Ramadan is a month of fasting from dawn to sunset, prayer, and reflection for approximately 2 billion Muslims worldwide. According to a survey conducted by Cesnur (Center for Studies on New Religions), there are 2,205,000 Muslims in Italy (566,000 Italian citizens and 1,719,000 foreign nationals), making Islam the country’s second-largest religion after Christianity, which counts 44,080,000 adherents. Muslims therefore represent less than 2% compared to the majority religion in Italy. According to estimates by Ismu (Initiatives and Studies on Multiethnicity), there has been an 8.4% decline over the past three years – a trend common to all monotheistic religions over the past 40 years. The largest number of Muslim residents lives in the province of Milan, with 229,519 individuals. Lombardy is the region with the highest Muslim population, also due to significant communities in Brescia (77,106) and Bergamo (62,603).