The pluralistic nature of present societies, enhanced by globalization and international migrations, calls for the development of an idea of intercultural citizenship that exceeds the common and univocal concept of “belonging”. The reflection on the various dimensions of citizenship – legal, socio-cultural, educational – even through the reference to the history of this concept, reveals the strategic role of intercultural education in the construction of a new conception of citizenship, that can be adequate to the current historical conjuncture and to the function that educational institutions can play in this regard.