What is your opinion about Chișinău?
I come from a traditionalist country, and my origins are in the South of Italy. I think here I can find a long-established, traditional way of life, and that can be nice to have in terms of human nature. I we live in a society where we lost our nature. For hundreds of years this traditional way of life worked, the family institution worked (more or less), but at least they did work. It would be nice if, using our intelligence, and adapting to the world that is changing, we keep our nature. I don’t think we need to be different just to be different.
…the first time I came here, there were some destroyed cars and the center of the city wasn’t looking nice like it is now, the background was sinister and I was thinking „Where am I? Am I in a Borat movie or what?”
In terms of the people, I feel that there’s a lot of humanity and simplicity here, it’s how our thoughts are, and that’s how we should feel when we do something. In terms of relationships, I think there is a lot to improve, a lot to understand. I see too much focus on their image from the side of the women in general. From the side of the men I see that they don’t have much courage. I feel there is quite a paradox.
I like this little country, even if, according to the last statistics, it is the least visited in Europe. It’s really improving a lot. I remember the first time I came here in 2018. There was a bus from the main airport to Chisinau and it was horrible. It was around the beginning of March and I remember there was an old lady cleaning the bus with a mop, she came to me, gave me the ticket, and I was thinking „Why, poor old lady, are you doing this? From which era are you coming?” I also remember the first time I came here, there were some destroyed cars and the center of the city wasn’t looking nice like it is now, the background was sinister and I was thinking „Where am I? Am I in a Borat movie or what?”
After some days I needed to go and then I thought „There is something that I need to understand about this place”. Then I came again and again and every time I came, I saw something new, I saw they were improving something. Now the center of the city is more beautiful, there are more shops. It is always improving and this is a good thing. A long time ago, I can say until some years ago, this country could be considered a third world country, but I don’t feel this way now. The country is improving, it is pushing ahead. What impresses me is that you can see old buildings from the Paleolithic era and luxurious buildings as well. That means you are ambitious, and you want to grow. This thing really touches me: the ambitious mentality.
I also admire the traffic lights from Chisinau: they have numbers. It is so amazing because we don’t have numbers in Torino. You don’t know how much time you have until it turns yellow, you have to run or you don’t cross the street. And one more thing that I noticed, there are cameras. Some months ago, there were no cameras, and now there are.
What is your favorite place in Chisinau?
My favorite place is the park Valea Morilor. I like the stairs going down and the lake downstairs. It is really romantic.
How do you communicate with citizens?
Many people from Chisinau don’t speak English. Some of them speak some Italian, Spanish. Every time we’ve used Google translate: Italian-English, Italian to Romanian or Italian-Russian. So we have been talking through Google translate and that’s all.
What about their behavior?
“Look at us, we are so unlucky, we were born here in this family, in this country”
When I go to the shops, the sellers rarely greet you. They only do their job. If I greet them, saying “Salut” for example, they just look at me, and that’s all, as though saying: „What do you want?” At the beginning I was thinking this is impolite, but then I understood that for them it is a kind of sacrifice. They’re probably thinking “This is my life, my life is a sacrifice, what do you want? To get what you want, I get my salary and ciao”. They rarely think about human relationships, they always care about their business. I feel that they are somewhat depressed. At the beginning I was thinking “This is your job! You should be sociable, you should be respectful”, but they don’t care. I still don’t know if it’s about mentality or not. I think it is a kind of victimization. It is like “Look at us, we are so unlucky, we were born here in this family, in this country” and then “what are you doing here? I can’t believe you came here from Barcelona, from Italy, here in Chisinau. People want to escape, why are you here?” and I say that people are nice, people are really familiar, traditionalist. They are negative about this country.
What would you want to improve in Chisinau?
Chisinau should be more international, I think, more open to visitors. Citizens should be pushing themselves in terms of opening their mind, accepting other people, not judging and not thinking about their image, because in a certain way, I feel there’s a lot of social pressure here, typically for the eastern countries, like „people can look at us, people can judge”.
[Chisinau] could be compared with cities from Croatia, like Zagreb, but Zagreb is full of life, here in Chisinau there are not so many places to do something at night. It is really hard to compare.
From my experience, I met so many women who had this pessimist mentality in a way like „I can’t do this because my mum couldn’t approve this”. In Poland and Romania I saw the same. This is a huge part from this mentality that comes from the pressure of the family and of the society. I think that’s a pity because in Torino we don’t care about what people do. If there is someone who thinks about people, it is because of his perception but at the end no one cares. The only thing you can notice in Torino is people are more or less the same. So you can think that people judge you, but no, nobody judges you. If you go to Barcelona you see open-minded people so you feel free there. There is definitely less social pressure than here. Maybe people who never travelled, people who decided to stay here can’t understand that there are other ways to think, other ways to behave, other ways to live. I think people are scared because of typical closed mentality, like „In this way I am sure everything is going to work. If I do differently, if I think differently, who knows?”
In Italy there is a quote „The old way for a new one, knows what is losing but doesn’t know what is going to get”. I would like to show that what they can get is better than what they lose, and at the end, they don’t really lose so much, they can get a lot more. I would like to import this mentality, being open, just to feel what you need.
What European city does Chisinau look like?
It could be compared with cities from Croatia, like Zagreb, but Zagreb is full of life, here in Chisinau there are not so many places to do something at night. It is really hard to compare. Maybe it looks like Palermo and other cities from the South of Italy.
Where do you usually eat in Chisinau?
People are so fanatical about flowers
I usually eat at “La Plăcinte”. I like traditional Moldovan food, especially tocana de pui cu mamaliga. Here I discovered a great tea, ceai de catina, it is amazing. I want it every time. I didn’t find it in the rest of the world. So every time I come here I drink this tea, it gives me a lot of energy. I also eat at „Saperavi”. Recently I discovered an Italian restaurant in Chisinau „Storno Pasta and Pizza”, a really good one. I am very particular about Italian restaurants around the world, so when I say it’s good, it is really good. Talking about Italian cuisine in Chisinau the tiramisu is one of the best here, it is so particular. I like the cacciatore too.
Could you live for a long time in Chisinau?
Yes, of course. I am an adaptable person, I don’t have any problems. I need to understand many things about this culture. The flowers are the most paradoxical thing in the world here. They are so expensive and people are so fanatical about flowers. Once I bought two bouquets of flowers and I spent around 30 euros. I went to Saperavi Restaurant and spent less. I thought that’s stupid. Instead of wasting money on flowers, I think it’s better to go out. The flowers are going to die in 2-3 days and you can’t compare this with a good dinner. The flowers in Italy are definitely cheaper. There is a proportion here that doesn’t make any sense. This is a huge business here.
The cost of life comparing to the European salaries is really low. So, it could be nice and comfortable for me if I can live a good life with a more or less average salary that I have with my job. This is, for sure, a good reason why I would live here: having a high quality of life with my salary, that is not common at all and is not possible in Italy, in Barcelona, in the western European countries in general.
I was seriously thinking to come to live in Chisinau. If the situation is going to be better, and if my professional and personal life will be related to Chisinau, why not?
Chișinău, orașul meu 