Milan, 24 Oct. (AKI) - A new survey of Muslims in Italy has revealed that 46.1 percent of them go to mosque or pray in Islamic places of worship, a much higher figure than previous estimates. According to a study published by the Milan-based Foundation for Multiethnic Studies (ISMU) the percentage of attendance varies widely from region to region, with the highest turnout in the north and the lowest rates in the south. The ISMU poll puts Islam as the non-Christian religion with the highest rate of attendance of places of worship in Italy - well above Buddists, Hindus and Jews.

More than 60 percent of Muslims in the Northern Italian city of Bergamo attend places of worship, while attendance in Milan, Turin and Brescia is over 50 percent, the study found. In some southern Italian towns, attendance is in single digits: 9.0 percent in Benevento, 5.7 percent in Potenza, 2.5 percent in Matera, 1.2 percent in Crotone, and less than 1.0 percent in Brindisi.

The southern cities with the higest attendance rates were Catanzaro (59.3 percent), Trapani (53.7 percent) and Syracuse (52.7 percent), according to the study, which was based on a representative cross-sample of Muslims.

"We are very satisified with these data, which to us demonstrate the absolute inverisimilitude of previous estimates that only 5 percent of Muslims in Italy attend mosques or places of worship," Hamza Piccardo, secretary of one of Italy's Muslim groups, the Union of Islamic Cults (UCOII), told Adnkronos International.

"Account also needs to be taken of the fact that Muslims cannot go to mosque on Friday, as it is a working day in Italy, as well as the lack of mosques around the country," Piccardo added.