Can confirm this. An ex girlfriend was "mugged" at Imola a couple of years ago, and by a brood of young Romanian children. Unfortunately, it was witnessed by many Italians who chose to ignore her plight - thankfully, an irate local Italian shopkeeper came to her rescue and explained that these "refugees" enjoyed the protection of the Catholic Church and therefore no-one would intervene. I don't know how true this is but it certainly ruined our weekend..and I've not returned since..
