{"id":12733,"date":"2017-04-20T07:56:34","date_gmt":"2017-04-20T05:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/?p=12733"},"modified":"2017-04-19T19:03:25","modified_gmt":"2017-04-19T17:03:25","slug":"refugees-tuscany-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/expat-life\/refugees-tuscany-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Refugees in Tuscany: New Book Questions Preconceptions"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love a good book. A good book grabs you, pulls you along and doesn\u2019t let you out. Recently I read Across the Big Blue Sea: Good Intentions and Hard Lessons in an Italian Refugee Home<\/em><\/a> and I couldn\u2019t put it down. This book tells \u201ctough truths\u201d about the refugee experience in Italy, from the point of view of an expat woman who finds herself managing a refugee home in small-town Tuscany. In so doing, it addresses our own preconceptions about refugees and immigrants everywhere.<\/p>\n

The author is Katja Meier, who happens to be an acquaintance of mine thanks to our shared love for the Maremma. I know her as a writer (she has a few blogs<\/a>) and as a hiker (she\u2019s Swiss, I\u2019ve said enough!), a cool mom and a gardener, a life coach and a herbalist. I should have known she had even more tricks up her sleeve.<\/p>\n

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The book, in Maremma (where it takes place). If you look closely you can see the “Big Blue Sea” in the background.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Although she never shared anything about it on social media (where, face it, we get most of our news about our friends), in the Summer of 2014 she was asked by a local charity, who ran a womens\u2019 shelter where Katja had volunteered, if she could help with incoming English-speaking refugees. They were preparing for the much-touted Syrians (only one family showed up, at one point, but they had no intention of staying in Tuscany), and Katja\u2019s main perceived qualification seemed to be that she spoke English, a rare skill in this rather remote part of Tuscany.<\/p>\n

Shelters like this are commonly run by NGOs or small local charities and located in empty schools\u2014many of them available in Tuscany\u2019s overaged villages\u2014 or in former hotels. Considering the stalling economy and the dwindling number of Italian tourists, opening up to refugees is a valid financial alternative for an empty agriturismo<\/em> in the Tuscan hinterland. Charities receive a price per head, per night; managed frugally, they may find themselves with a profit.<\/p>\n

Rather than Syrians, Katja found herself caring for Nigerian women. Between eighteen and twenty-three years old, the young women had survived the crossing of a dessert, countless months in war-ridden Libya and the passage of the Mediterranean Sea on a battered and madly overcrowded boat. Saved by the Italian coastguards, they were taken to Sicily and a few days later transferred to the refugee home in Tuscany. Finally, they were safe, had food, a bed, and clothing \u2013 as well as silence and a great view. But the location, while idyllic, is hardly conducive to integration and to the newcomers getting a job. These are towns emptied of young people, and populated by the aged, waiting out the end of life while gossiping at Bar Sport. These places become places to wait for the refugees as well, waiting for their asylum request to be processed by the Questura in Florence; they end up idle, while the locals start to think they\u2019re lazy.<\/p>\n

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Sunday chat. #villagelife #Alberese<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by Katja Meier (@anythingtuscan) on