This contribution tries to consider italian migration in France in its wholeness under the historical, economic and social angles with to be thread idea that this immigration constituted between 1870s and the First World war a mailman of flexibilisation of the labour market in some french regions among the most active economically (Mediterranean midday, the region of Lyons, Parisian basin) and that it contributed significantly in the economic activity of period. Between 1876 and 1914, the flux of italian migrants towards France can be estimated between 1,6 and 1,7 millions in a country where complete labour crosses 17,8 millions in 1870 and 19,37 millions in 1913. Seasonal Italian give a hand of comparatively tame and cheap work in agriculture, and to the firms of the building and public works. Very present also in the areas of metallurgy, textile industry, chemistry or car’s sector, the italian migrants contribute in the industrial development of several French regions (Mediterranean midday, region of Lyons, Paris region, then Lorraine and North of France). Italians are in the majority men in full force of age, they are mobile and occupy the hardest jobs. Ready to accept lesser remunerations and harder conditions of job and life, they are perceptible as dangerous rivals by the French wage earners.
