Samuel Fazzi has been the Italian consul in Bahia Blanca for a year and a half, a destination he arrived at after doing diplomatic work in Iraq and Cuba, which gave him a range of different experiences.
Married to Ana of Spanish-Georgian descent and also a diplomat, and father to Filippo, who was born in Havana three years ago, Samuel seems at ease. Happy. And he even claims to feel almost like another sister.
Emigrated from a family prone to emigration, he dreams of making a mark on it, his current destination. And for this it aims to weave strategic economic ties between our environment and its country during the coming year.
1. “There are often some surprises in the life of a diplomat. I would never have thought that during a pandemic like I would have to live in Cuba, I would start a family. There I met Ana, a Spanish-Georgian who also did diplomatic work and whom I married in Havana. Actually our son Filippo was born during Quarantine. It would have never occurred to me to write this novel that I live in my own body.
2. “Before, my first destination, and at the same time strong, was Iraq. At the age of 28 I left Rome and settled in Baghdad. I really wanted to get out of the foreign ministry, out of the comfort zone, and In a destination that wasn’t easy. And it’s about Iraq.”
3. “By 2014, there was a real war going on in Iraq between the government and ISIS terrorists who had taken over a lot of territory. You had to adapt to that scenario. ,
4. “The challenge within my role is to try to have some flexibility, an open mind. Iraq had an incredible variety of terms, sometimes alarming, in terms of the different political and religious actors facing each other.
5. “I found two extreme situations in Cuba. And both can convince you of the appropriateness of your ideas. We are used to our argument that the opposite of true is false. Language works like this. But the reality is not so. Two things can be opposite to each other and both can be true at the same time.
6. “I studied in Trieste, near the former Yugoslavia. I remember that he analyzed the causes of the conflict that divided that country into an almost total confrontation. I remember books told me that, for example, Serbia and Croatia were two impossible worlds, but at night I went to the bar and I met a Serbian friend and another Croatian and we drank together. Both realities were true.
7. “I’ve visited many countries and it always strikes me to stop at the supermarket in the pasta area. And the variety I always look for is minimal. Nothing to do with what’s going on here in Argentina It’s all here!”
8. “I remember kneading my nonna and making fresh pasta. He taught my brother, now a chef, and me how to make it on Sundays. I must say that this is a custom that is not kept throughout Italy. Even in Argentina, even there it is considered more than there.”
9. “My nonna lived all her life in the Lecce region, in Salento, where I was born, but there was a time when she tried to immigrate. Her husband, my grandfather, worked in Canada for 25 years. On more than one occasion, he tried to emigrate with my father and two younger sisters to be together. It was the 70s and he was unsuccessful in his efforts. He couldn’t”.
10. “From my mother’s side, my grandparents also left. My grandfather first worked in the Marsinelle mines in Belgium. They tell me that he got angry with a Sicilian working there, so he decided to leave. goodness! Two months later, in 1956, a tragedy occurred at that mine, in which several miners were killed (262). My grandfather moved to Wales, where my mother was born. They stayed there for many years until they returned to Salento”.
11. “Time to pack ain’t easy. This also happened to me in Iraq, where living was not easy, but I left many friends. The same thing happened to us in Cuba, in this case to Ana.”
12. “Everywhere there are twists and turns, ups and downs. This is not something that only happens to Argentina. Now, when you have as many important, diverse, as many incredible resources as this country, you have to explain the scenario. For example, this is a moment of huge opportunities to take advantage of.”
13. “By 2023, our goal at the Consulate is to activate economic ties with Bahia Blanca, with the community, based on this development profile that we understand. We are learning about projects that need priority The city ranks first in the order of. In Europe, the war with Russia has turned the economy upside down, so an interesting phase is emerging to link strategic, economic and commercial channels.
14. “We have one of the largest consular districts in the world in Bahia Blanca. Quadruple the area of Italy. There are 1,100,000 Italian citizens in the country. Of them, 10 percent, about 80,000, live in our region, 30,000 live in Bahia Blanca. There are also many in Alto Valle de Rio Negro”.
