Oleh is 29 years old and was born in Volodymyr, a medium-sized city located in the western part of Ukraine near Poland. He speaks Ukrainian, English, Polish, a little Italian and Portuguese. He first came to Italy, specifically to Rome, in 2016 as part of an Erasmus Program that provided semester-long study stays in different

Originally from Alexandria, Egypt, Marwa is 31 years old and a biotechnologist and molecular biologist. She first came to Italy in 2014 to participate in an international Euro-Mediterranean master’s program in neuroscience and biotechnology involving the universities of Egypt, Morocco and Lebanon and three European universities, Turin, Valencia and Bordeaux. Returning to Egypt at the

Born in Mendoza 32 years ago, Ornella Baffini grew up in a neighbourhood in downtown Buenos Aires. A native Spanish speaker, she speaks English and Italian. Italy is in her DNA, however: her grandparents, in fact, were born in Abruzzo and then emigrated to Argentina…and Ornella decided to retrace their steps. The difficult situation in

Milad was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1983. He speaks “bad Italian,” English and Persian, his native language. He has lived in Turin since his arrival in Italy 11 years ago. At 18, given a choice, Milad chose college over military service. After passing the difficult entrance exam, he enrolled in the Bachelor of Science

Tugce was born in Nazilli, a small town in western Turkey, 33 years ago. She speaks Turkish, English and Italian, some German and is learning French. She left Turkey ten years ago when she went to study in Portugal, where she graduated in Product Design in 2012. Then, she moved to England, where she earned

Away from her native India, Shree Madhu Bhat, 27, a virologist, arrived in Italy in October 2019, just before the Covid pandemic broke out, to attend a doctoral program in biological sciences at the University of Turin. After three years in Italy, Shree still uses Google Translate when she goes to the supermarket, and she

Malu Mpasinkatu has lived in Italy for over forty years and is the first professional sports director of African descent in Italy. Born in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo on August 14, 1976, Malu speaks French, English, Spanish, and Lingala in addition to Italian. Raised in Mondovì, where he graduated from high school,

Islem is 35 years old and arrived in Italy, in Turin, Italy, in November 2015. Originally from a small country town on the coast of Tunisia, Sidi Alouane, he speaks Arabic (his native language, some dialects of which he also knows), French (which he has been studying since the age of 8, as it is

Lynda has been in Italy for almost 14 years. Her first Italian city was Pisa and since 2017 she has lived in Turin. When asked about her country of origin, although she describes herself as “strongly American in many ways,” she says she feels like a citizen of the world and that cultural diversity is

Raniere Menezes was born in Pescheira, a village in Pernambuco, in northeastern Brazil. He is 30 years old and speaks Portuguese, English and Italian. He arrived in Italy almost by chance in 2019 when he was still a doctoral student: his tutor in Brazil had contact with a professor at the University of Turin who