Simone and the Italians

It's a story like many others. Beautiful, but with that bittersweet ending that makes you think, and that today gives so much to think about to so many people (good sign). Simone makes Speggiorin by last name, immediately betraying his Venetian origins. In fact, he was born in the Venetian province 36 years ago. In Cardiosurgery he discovered his vocation, so that he took his first the degree in Medicine and Surgery in 2003 (thesis in Pediatric Cardiosurgery), then the specialization in Cardiosurgery (2008) at an excellence pole such as the Padua University. So far so good. It is a pity, however, that before that, he had no choice but to rely on precarious tasks, seamlessly and without the possibility of laying the foundations for a more solid future. Sometimes, however, there are knots that unravel only by making a revolution. Simon made his revolution, and began to look further beyond his country, his region, Italy itself. He has applied for a post as a primary unit in the UK. Rated by someone like Martin Elliot, Professor Emeritus.

Simon won his revolution. Today he’s the youngest primary in England. Reading his story, on net blogs or on theitaliancommunity.co.uk, a smile of pride appears, because another Italian talent is making a claim abroad. But it remains the same bitterness in the mouth that just a few days ago also transpired from an editorial, written by Beppe Severgnini for Corriere. "Italy that doesn’t hear its emigrants. And loses a point of GDP", was called the piece, that called into question the absurdity of a phenomenon that is an urgent national issue, but which is likely to become more and more a simple background noise. Not because it is not permissible to explore the world in pursuit of opportunities for professional growth, let's face it. But because it's still too one-way circuit. Too many come out, too few come in (or come back). Ours is a Country that still has a long way to go to make itself truly attractive; there is still little awareness that we have developed in this regard.

Among the notable exceptions, in his focus on China Severgnini mentioned Bocconi and the Polytechnics of Milan and Turin (academic side); then STMicroelectronics, Fincantieri, Luxottica, Max Mara, Juventus (for the companies side), just to name some examples; finally (institutional side), the Foreign Affairs Ministry, with the new diplomatic generation that is shifting the balance again on the Italian people, wherever it is, strong of primates in fashion and music, technology and cuisine, architecture and, as in Simone's case, medicine. An army of young talent, from the US to China, from the UK to Australia. Italians that not only do we not have the right to relegate in a needle of our daily thinking, but that we should keep in mind in terms of potential. Hooking them. Re-attracting them, if possible. Because they are the pride of Italy, a Country that is not (and will never be) an island, and which deserves its own place in the global networks of brain circulation.