Posted by meghan on Wednesday, May 31, 2017 in 2017 Blog post.

During the evening hours of Thursday May 25^th at the Tourist Hotel located at the far end of the boardwalk in Cefalú, I had the pleasure of interviewing one of the recently hired receptionists, Fania.  Dressed in a black and white pant suit with high heels and bright red lipstick, Fania welcomed me into the lounge area and began to comment on the weather before we began our informal interview.

I began the interview by asking Fania several general questions in order to understand the broad spectrum of her life story, family dynamic, and current lifestyle.  Fania soon revealed that she was originally from Agrigento, lived in Germany for the majority of her childhood and adolescence before moving back to Sicily, and has lived and worked in Cefalú for the last six years with her current boyfriend.   When asked which country she preferred, she quickly responded that she loved Sicily for its weather, beautiful landscape and people; however, she would much rather live in Germany where she believed that the nation’s political, healthcare, and education systems were much better.  In fact, she claims that if it weren’t for her boyfriend, she would pursue a better life outside of Italy. https://vanderbilt.box.com/s/t874eg9jibpcw8qwkfedse7r4ayztshyhttps://vanderbilt.box.com/s/tbqk8dxiqf339gsyg4f8df5gyut9sz17

 

Upon returning from Germany after having completed her schooling there, Fania also had to complete high school in Sicily as her credits would not transfer.  Unlike the American school systems, Sicilian high schools are categorized by trade and profession such that education is specialized toward the individual’s ultimate career path.  In her case, Fania chose to go to the tourism-focused high school in Agrigento, near her family’s home.  She soon moved to Cefalú upon being hired by a German entertainment and daycare company for children where she worked for six years and met her current long-term boyfriend.  After watching her face light up as she spoke about her former career, I then grew curious as to why and how she ended up as a newly hired hotel receptionist; the answer I received would be a first-hand account of the struggling Italian, particularly Sicilian, economy.

Throughout the interview, I asked several times as to whether or not Fania liked her new job as a receptionist, after all it was the primary occupation for the school she chose to attend in Sicily.  After leaving the question relatively unanswered for the majority of the interview, Fania finally admitted that she did love her old job as it was fun and playful, whereas her new seven hours, six days per week receptionist position was “more serious” and mechanical.  https://vanderbilt.box.com/s/ir0vm9hl4xlp859gutbxgimyxjvelkrpShe then revealed that she had been laid off over a year ago by the German company when they decided to down size.  For a year she was forced to pick up odd end jobs in order to make ends meet, among which included positions as an aerobics trainer and bikini sales woman.  She eventually signed up with a contracting company that continued to help her find any jobs possible, including her current position as a hotel receptionist.  Fania’s face turned crimson and her eyes averted my intent gaze as she quietly admitted that she was 27 years old without a real career, “basically jobless”, and forced to “accept the reality of such a difficult situation.”  https://vanderbilt.box.com/s/tbqk8dxiqf339gsyg4f8df5gyut9sz17

Fania continued to describe the difficulty of finding a job in not only Cefalú, where the unemployment rate for adults under thirty is 45%, but also the entire Sicilian region, particularly her home town of Agrigento.  Moreover, Fania suggested that no one she knows is entirely fulfilled or in love with their odd end job; in fact, there are very few young adults that have stable careers that they can take pride in.  In a humble tone, Fania admitted that she was indeed grateful for her position as a receptionist, having received the job over a multitude of others that interviewed for it as well; she claims that her ability to speak 4 languages that has been her saving grace in Sicily’s current unemployment crisis.

Although Sicily has done an excellent job in preserving its natural beauty and history over many centuries, it is evident that its economic stability, consistently lacking a solid foundation, has failed to make any progress in the recent globalization of the world’s economy.  With tourism and agriculture extending only so far, it is evident that the population of young adults is in true peril without adequate opportunity for long-term career paths to make a steady income.  Such can be compared to the relatively decreasing pool of jobs available to the millennial generation in America, however not nearly to the same extent.  Despite having contributed to world culture, history, and cuisine in the past, it appears that Sicily’s laid back approach to life, inefficiency, as well as its internal issues have resulted in its ultimate economic demise, a trend that has repeated itself throughout the island’s long history.  By the same token, Fania’s description of the federal health care system that covers every expense for the unemployed, yet does not pay for all medical treatment for those that have jobs, reflects the indifference toward complacency that resounds throughout the traditional Sicilian culture and mentality.  https://vanderbilt.box.com/s/owce9q158bzyetnkj0yk370cj21nz1q5In this way, it is evident that although Americans tend to be more high strung and fast paced, our cultural environment does not fail to propel innovation, capitalism, and overall economic efficiency even in the worst of times.

In conclusion, I truly lament the unemployment crisis that has struck Sicily particularly heavily in this modern period.  Nonetheless, I do find that the fault in such economic stagnation lies at the heart of the region’s culture itself.  While Sicily is gorgeous and serene, it cannot survive in a dreamlike state amidst a competitive global economy of ruthless competition, exponential growth in the human population, and the inevitable quandary of limited resources.

 

For the full interview listen here :

https://vanderbilt.box.com/s/40yif8pnleik4ghffzs8tqnbnr6g60dk