Back when the Italians were the ones emigrating abroad, men used to leave their families behind, only to see them years — if not decades — later. Nowadays, it’s mostly women who bid farewell to their native countries to support their families. They move to Italy and work as housemaids or caregivers, and 75% of them leave their children at home. It is a wound that cuts deep and sometimes leads to tragic outcomes: as shown by humanitarian associations, about forty Romanian children committed suicide since 2008 because of their mothers’ absence. This painful experience doesn't only affect the children left behind but also the women forced to abandon their countries to find a job. Such condition has been connected to what the psychologists call “the Italian Syndrome”, which is a severe form of depression increasingly more common among both the immigrants working as caregivers in our country and their children. Andrei is a 10 year-old boy and just a while ago he was living the cheerful life that every child deserves to live. With the occurrence of the economic crisis his father got fired and his mum moved to Italy to find a job. Over the months, the absence of his mother as well as his father’s alcohol abuse had become a tough burden to bear. The presence of his relatives and the strong affection to his motherland cannot fill the emptiness inside him. After a long and painful lawsuit between his parents, Andrei finally catches up with his mother in Italy but what seems to be a happy ending is actually the beginning of a new life where everything looks different and where expectations turn into delusions. Andrei deeply misses his old habits and finds it difficult to integrate into the new society. This generates a strong discomfort that gets even worse because of the arduous relationship between the boy and his mother’s new partner. Andrei shuts himself out, avoids people and isolates himself into a mental and physical cage. He hardly ever leaves the flat that, although it does not feel like home, it is the only refuge he has. His body is in Italy but his spirit is still there in Romany, since Andrei has arrived somewhere but not here…
Arriving somewhere, not here...
Arriving somewhere, not here...
Back when the Italians were the ones emigrating abroad, men used to leave their families behind, only to see them years — if not decades — later. Nowadays, it’s mostly women who bid farewell to their native countries to support their families. They move to Italy and work as housemaids or caregivers, and 75% of them leave their children at home. It is a wound that cuts deep and sometimes leads to tragic outcomes: as shown by humanitarian associations, about forty Romanian children committed suicide since 2008 because of their mothers’ absence. This painful experience doesn't only affect the children left behind but also the women forced to abandon their countries to find a job. Such condition has been connected to what the psychologists call “the Italian Syndrome”, which is a severe form of depression increasingly more common among both the immigrants working as caregivers in our country and their children. Andrei is a 10 year-old boy and just a while ago he was living the cheerful life that every child deserves to live. With the occurrence of the economic crisis his father got fired and his mum moved to Italy to find a job. Over the months, the absence of his mother as well as his father’s alcohol abuse had become a tough burden to bear. The presence of his relatives and the strong affection to his motherland cannot fill the emptiness inside him. After a long and painful lawsuit between his parents, Andrei finally catches up with his mother in Italy but what seems to be a happy ending is actually the beginning of a new life where everything looks different and where expectations turn into delusions. Andrei deeply misses his old habits and finds it difficult to integrate into the new society. This generates a strong discomfort that gets even worse because of the arduous relationship between the boy and his mother’s new partner. Andrei shuts himself out, avoids people and isolates himself into a mental and physical cage. He hardly ever leaves the flat that, although it does not feel like home, it is the only refuge he has. His body is in Italy but his spirit is still there in Romany, since Andrei has arrived somewhere but not here…
