Posted by petruccj on Monday, May 30, 2016 in Blog posts.

Meet Dario, a student in his 20s from Cefalù. Fascinated by art, poetry and architecture, he has decided to dedicate his life to it and has been studying architecture at university for the past couple of years. He has one year left at the university in Palermo before he finishes school and begins to look for a job.

In our interview, we discussed the differences between the education systems in America and here in Sicily. Like many other countries in Europe, in Italy students attend high schools and universities that are specialized to what they want to do as a career. In Italy students attend five years of primary school, three years of middle school and then three to five years of high school. Primary and middle school have generalized curriculums whereas in high school students must pick a specialized school that helps them develop the skills needed for a specific career. Some school types include mathematics, accounting, classics and professional. Dario attended the classics high school. He started learning English in high school and has continued this study throughout college. He commutes every day on the train to university and lives right outside of the city center in Cefalù. Outside of school, Dario focuses his energy on playing tennis and mastering archery.

Being someone who is extremely passionate about architecture, Dario has explored many other places around the world. Though he went to the United States back when he was only three, Dario has also traveled to Madrid, Barcelona, London, Prague and Milan. It was interesting to learn that he had done very little traveling in Italy itself. He has only been to Milan as he has cousins who live outside of the city. When asked about this travel pattern, Dario responded by expressing the importance of these trips to other countries in order to get a better understanding of the different architectural styles of the world. He feels strongly that in order to become a well-rounded architect, it is important to immerse yourself in many cultures filled with many different architectural styles. After discussing his world travel, I asked what kind of career Dario thought he saw himself having. Though he did not specify exactly what he wanted to do, he emphasized the importance of traveling outside of Sicily to find a position. He emphasized the fact that in Cefalù there are not many opportunities for career expansion, especially for someone aimed at becoming an architect. He explained that Sicily is very relaxed and slow paced compared to other places like New York in America, and because of this it is not very easy to explore career options and move up the occupational ladder. Though he wants to work somewhere else, Dario stressed the importance of returning home to Italy after his career. Cefalù is a very family oriented place, Dario explained; so it is important to return to your roots after going out and succeeding in the world career wise.

The biggest take away from my interview with Dario was this importance of family. Though he focused primarily on what it means to be an architect to him, he continuously referred back to his family and shared stories of them no matter what we were talking about. His focus in succeeding as an architect outside of Italy is so that he can come back and share his success with his family here in Cefalù. Thus though Dario seems driven and career focused, the influence of his family seems to be the most dominating force in his life.