What is a Burkini?
Don’t look for the word Burkini in a dictionary because you won’t find it as it has just been invented by an Australian designer with Middle East origins. It is formed by the first part of the word “Burqa”, an Islamic woman’s dress that covers every inch of her body and “Bikini” which does the complete opposite.
Fitting into Italian society
Italy, whose immigrants are scattered world-wide is not a land known for opportunity and consequently it is only recently it has known people entering its shores from other lands and have seen people of a different colour or dressed in other attire than the western way. Certainly, they have never seen ladies clothed from head to toe in a Burkini adorn its Adriatic coast before. And of course, Emilio Fede of the National Rete 4 TV took out his crew of news reporters to find out what the Italians thought of the sight.
The response was quite candid
The response was a favourable one. Why not? It may even catch on as a fashion some thought. However, there was one Town Mayor in the extreme north who would not allow such apparel clad ladies in the town’s pool as it might upset young children to suddenly see a fully clothed individual inside the pool, thinking perhaps “she” was drowning. To which the people answered him that the children would probably be more frightened by suddenly bumping into some bare bottoms and boobs hanging out on the beaches that we so easily find nowadays. I guess there’s nothing like going from one extreme to another. 
Comments
Of course it is far to cold most of teh time to go undressed as you do in Italy. =)