Those who travel the world, even in its most remote areas, know for a fact that Italians are everywhere. Even when they are not physically present, there is at least a trace of their passage. One example: family names of obvious Italian origin can be found on every continent, and they tell the story of a journey lasting more than a century. A not-always-easy journey that continues, under new forms, even today: this is the story of Italian emigration.
What drove Italians to put down roots far from their own country as early as the end of the 19th century? What were the most popular destinations where actual Italian communities were created? How did the migratory phenomenon of young Italians evolve and how does it occur today? The new podcast series Voci dalla Farnesina “Storia dell’emigrazione italiana” (Voices from the Farnesina “History of Italian Emigration”) – the result of the collaboration between the agency 9Colonne and the Directorate General for Italian Citizens Abroad and Migration Policies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation – seeks to answer these questions by reconstructing, in six episodes, the reasons and journeys that have led, and still lead, Italians away from Italy.
The fifth episode of the series, “1973, per la prima volta più arrivi che partenze” (1973, for the first time immigrants outnumbered emigrants) analyses the reversal of the Italian migratory phenomenon during the 1970s: Italy experienced a positive migration balance and, from the 1990s onwards, the country became a land of immigration.
You can listen to the episode here.
