Romanians: our cousins or just thirsty bloodsuckers?
As our first speaker Doctor Maria Bilha said, the Romanians are our close relatives. She, a Romanian herself, works as a nurse as well as being the President of the no-profit "Romania chiama Parma" association.
She introduced our group of travellers to the most general aspects of the Romanian culture: the temperate climate, the very long seashore, the beauty and the magic of the old traditions, the folk dances.
Turns out our cultures are extremely close: the Roman domination of Romania, though short, greatly changed their lifestyle and, with even more importance, deeply affected their language. We not only share Latin roots: they have a lively Italian community of about 3000-4000 people that have chosen to settle down there. They have been shown great respect and consideration by allowing a representative of the community a seat in the Parliament.
The Romanians are estimated to have about 1,52 million people working and living in Italy; as Dr. Bilha said they like to think of us like you would think about your rich, older cousin. Dr. Bilha herself is part of that 1,52 million who made a different choice: she said it was tough and she misses her home everyday, but worth it. This is why she chose to organize a support group around the "Romania chiama Parma" association.
She reminded us of just how much strength and despair it takes to decide to change your life so greatly; four years later, speaking an Italian close to perfection, she is a living proof that her people can do it.
After her passionate speech Dr. Speroni gave us basic economics facts: 34% of the Romanian population is still working in agriculture, which is quite impressive, with an unemployment rate of about 6% which is even more impressive.
Manufacture is very important, whereas transports are probably the worst flaw of the country: only 450 km of highways in the whole country. Many Italian international industries are starting out there so let's hope for the best.
Dr Iotti put a lot of stress on the fact that Romania is a country formed by an ethnical mix: there are a lot of minorities and they are very aware of their differences even if they all speak the same language.
A brief history excursus was offered by the intervention of Dr Angela Tarantino, who teaches Romanian language and literature at the Florence University. It was quite insightful and interesting: the years under the communist leader Nicolai Ceausescu really left a mark. Freedom of speech was not tolerated and a board of censors was appointed to control the media.
The meeting was closed by the entertaining but, interestingly enough, true story of how Bram Stoker’s Dracula was born in the mind of the writer (a prawns indigestion, yes) and how much is fiction (you would be surprised) and how much was inspired by the historical figure of the Count Vlad III of Valachia.
Various hypotheses were made and there are lots of interesting theories about him: evil tyrant or just fair ruler? Cruel and bloodthirsty or just misunderstood politician? Will we ever get the whole story? Probably not, since there are various reports and the story changes depending on who tells it.
I was not expecting there would be so much to learn about Romania. Looking forward hearing what my fellow travellers will have to say now...I will be a bit wary of them though. You never know what they could bring back with them :)