When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

And that is to ship illegal immigrants someplace else.

Gov. Maura Healey should take notice.

In Italy’s case it is to send them across the Adriatic Sea to Albania where they will be held until they are processed and potentially sent back to where they came from.

And that place is Libya, where fortunes are made sending immigrants from Africa and the Mideast who have flocked there seeking sea passage to Italy. Once there they pay smugglers to ferry them on often rickety boats across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy.

Italy, like the rest of Europe—not to mention the United States—has been overwhelmed with illegal immigrants. Unlike the U.S., however, European countries have begun to crack down on illegal immigration.

Once in Italy, a gateway to the rest of Europe, the illegal immigrants, under European Union regulations, are safe from immediate deportation and are allowed to apply for asylum. Italy is a member of the European Union.

So, under the conservative leadership of Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, a plan was hatched to intercept the immigrants on the high seas and ship them to Albania, a non-EU member, before they can set foot on Italian soil.

There, under agreement with Albanian Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama, up to 36,000 immigrants a year will be outsourced to Albania and housed in two centers in the northern Albanian ports of Shengjim and Gjader, far from the spectacular Albanian Riviera along the southern coast.

The Italian government will build the two centers where asylum requests will be processed. No pregnant women or minors will be sent to the camps. The Albanian government will provide security.

No mention of how much money Italy will pay Albania in the deal.

The controversial Meloni plan allows Italy to dodge EU regulations that states that the first country in which migrants arrive must care for them and process their cases. The Meloni plan appears to be a version of former President Donald Trump’s remain in Mexico policy that President Joe Biden thrashed when he became president.

“This is a historic achievement,” a top Meloni aide with the wonderful name of Giovanbattista Fazzolari, said.

Historic or not, it is indicative of Europe’s growing concern with illegal immigration. Hardly had the Meloni/Rama deal been announced than six EU countries—the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia Austria and Germany– agreed to tighten their border security. .

In the Netherlands, Gert Wilder’s anti-immigration Freedom Party finished first in last week’s parliamentary elections in another sign of Europe’s shift to the right on immigration. And Finland shut down its border with Russia.

While the European illegal immigration problem is serious, it pales in significance to what is happening in the U.S. Where Europe talks of thousands of illegal immigrants knocking down the doors, the U.S. talks of millions.

Massachusetts, like urban states elsewhere in the country, is overwhelmed with illegal immigrants and is in a quandary what to do about them.

Since no political leader in the state has the courage to talk about sending immigrants back to where they came from so they can pursue legal entry, perhaps a Meloni solution should be considered.

Massachusetts, like Italy, may need an Albania, or maybe two– places where migrants can be housed and vetted, and their asylum applications processed. It could be a state-run version of what Ellis Island once was.

This is not to suggest that Healey work out a deal with Albania, the way Meloni did. Albania is too far away.

Besides there are many uninhabited islands in Boston Harbor that could be turned into camps to house, feed and process the immigrants, not to mention camps or existing hotels and motels on Nantucket an Martha’s Vineyard.

It was Martha’s Vineyard, after all, where people were so kind and receptive when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flew in a couple of planeloads of Venezuelan immigrants in 2022.

The warm-hearted islanders processed them so fast that they were whisked off the island in 36 hours. Perhaps they can help out again.

Rome may have the solution. So, Healey should say basta and hire Giovanbattista Fazzolari right away. Who better?

Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.

A worker walks at the port of Shengjin, northwestern Albania, last month. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni announced that Albania had agreed to give temporary shelter to thousands of migrants who try to reach Italian shores while their asylum bids are being processed. (AP Photo/Armando Babani)