Racism exists everywhere - blatant and otherwise.
Sure immigration officials in the UK never bat an eyelid when I have my British passport, but when I use my Italian passport, immigration officials in Italy often make comments, which ranges from "oh you're Italian eh/were you adopted" etc
But I have never in all my years in Italy been threatened with lynching, have had things thrown at me, or questioned why I was hanging around with people of different ethnicities, in Italy you encounter more cases of ignorance than racism.
It is sad what is going on there right now, it is heart breaking the number of people that flee from the African continent during the summer months and make the dangerous trips on boats to reach "Europe" in hope of a better life.
The problems Italians have is that they have nowhere to put these immigrants...not like in England where they offer to pay immigrants X amount of money, a ticket and then ship them back home. Life in Britain is better for most because they can enjoy the perks of being "citizens" but the race riots in bradford and other northern states was not that long ago.