"Not everyone is racist and not everyone is bad," she told a press conference before she has a stint as co-presenter of the Sanremo Song Festival on Thursday night alongside festival director Amadeus and veteran pop star Gianni Morandi.
"But if you ask me if there's racism, the answer is yes.
"Italy is improving on this front and I don't want to play the victim, but I tell it like it is".
The 24-year-old, who has Nigerian roots, announced that she would be taking a break from the Italian national team last year after being subjected to racism.
The announcement came after a video went viral on social media in which a clearly upset Egonu is captured telling her agent that she gets asked "how come" she is Italian and saying she has played for Italy for the last time.
The recording was taken after she helped Italy beat the United States to claim the bronze medal at the world championships, with the Azzurri missing out on the final following defeat to Brazil in the last four.
Meanwhile, also at the Sanremo Song Festival, Italian rapper and pop star Fedez created a furore during a freestyle rap he performed on Wednesday night, taking aim at two government officials .
In the rap, Fedez mentioned a "deputy minister dressed as Hitler" and tore up a photo showing Transport and Infrastructure Deputy Minister Galeazzo Bignami dressed in a brown shirt with a Nazi armband - an image dating back to 2005.
He also said "unfortunately abortion is a right, yep, I didn't say so, a minister did" - a reference to Family Minister Eugenia Roccella.
Stefano Coletta, the director of prime-time entertainment for Rai, which organises the festival, said the State broadcaster "strongly disassociates itself from the personal attacks of Fedez's performance".
ANSA
