Ukrainians move to Italy for a range of reasons: Some are seeking a degree from a European university, while others want to join family or loved ones living in the country.
But most go for work. According to Ukrainian Embassy in Italy, more than 66 percent of the 240,000 Ukrainians who are in the country legally are employed.
Viktoria Drembluga, who moved from Kyiv to Milan in 2012, said that it was easy to find a job in Italy, because most of the shops are looking for Russian-speaking staff all year round. Drembluga said that it took her a month to get a job in retail, but the most difficult part was to get an official work permit, because it took a lot of paperwork.
“Even opening a bank account was difficult,” she complained. “You don’t have the documents required to open an account, but to obtain those documents you need a bank account. It’s a vicious circle.”
However, in the end, it was worth it, she said.
“If you work here and you’re good at what you do, you’re always well-paid — that’s the difference between Ukraine and Italy,” she said, adding that in her field, retail, people make around 1,400 euros a month net — only slightly less than the average net salary of 1,762 euros a month.
More than 85 percent of the Ukrainians employed in Italy work in the services industry, according to the Italian Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. Drembluga said that Ukrainians often get jobs in stores, restaurants, beauty salons, and as cleaners or nurses.
A lot of money they make is sent home to help their families in Ukraine. Given the difference in prices between Ukraine and Italy, the savings of a waiter in Italy can feed a whole family in a Ukrainian province.
Ukrainians working in Italy send a total around 125 million euros a year back to their families in Ukraine, according to the Italian Ministry of Labor and Social Policy.
A worker’s life
Svitlana Babyna, who lives in Liguria region in northwestern Italy, said that the move to Italy has split her life into “before” and “after.”
Babyna, 56, was diagnosed with autoimmune disease 12 years ago and needed a liver transplant that her family couldn’t afford. Luckily for Babyna, the Italian family who once hosted her daughter stepped in.
They wrote an open letter to then-President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, and Babyna ended up having her transplant operation free of charge in Liguria. Members of the public in Ligurian also donated money to Babyna for her trip.
“My case proves how generous Italians are,” Babyna told the Kyiv Post.
After her operation, Babyna stayed in Italy and found a job as a nurse for elderly people. She said she missed home, but “she feels calmer here because of the social welfare.” She socializes with the Ukrainian diaspora in Liguria and often attends the various celebrations and events they organize.
Babyna said that there are lots of Ukrainians in Liguria, especially from the western regions of Ukraine, who moved to Italy for jobs that are better-paid than any they can find in Ukraine. Many of them, like herself, have a university degree, but their education doesn’t help them in Italy, where a Ukrainian diploma isn’t highly valued.
“We do the work that Italians won’t do,” Babyna said. “Many Ukrainians came to Italy to earn money, but it doesn’t mean that they are happy here and don’t miss their homes.”
Younger generation
However, Babyna said that her 25-year-old daughter Olga, who moved to Italy in 2010, sees everything in a different light and “doesn’t know the life of a laborer.”
Olga Babyna, 25, graduated this year from the medical faculty of the prestigious University of Bologna. She speaks fluent Italian and has lots of Italian friends.
“I’m very happy to spend my student years in Italy,” the young woman said. “Studying is very hard,
Eugenia Shpakovska, who has lived in Rome for four years, poses in Rome’s Botanic Garden. (Facebook/Photoshoot in Rome)
but people never complain. Even when they study for 10 hours per day, they do it with a smile and with confidence. I truly respect them for that!”
Another student from Ukraine, Eugenia Shpakovska, who studies communications and business administration in Rome, said that she didn’t have any difficulties in getting on with people as there were many non-Italians at her university.
“We’re all like fish out of water, so we took it not as a problem, but funny to be different from the locals,” she said.
Shpakovska said that she loved Italy because it’s “emotional, fun and simple.”
She said that the main difference of living in Italy compared to Ukraine is that people “don’t dedicate their life to work, but spend evenings with their family, and appreciate relationships more than money.”
Love is the key
Fashion blogger Lily Petrangovska, who moved to Milan in 2016, agreed that “in Italy people live their lives to the full, while in Ukraine they are just surviving.”
For Petrangovska, it was easy to find a job in Milan: The city is one of the world’s fashion capitals and she gets many offers of work. She also said that she previously lived in Poland and the United Kingdom, but so far Italy has been her favorite place to live. She said it flattered her when people call her Ukrainian-Italian.
“You just have to love Italy, admire Italians and speak Italian with pleasure — and then everything is going to be fine,” she said.
