The story of Franco Aloisio, the Italian who left his native places to come to Romania, is a special one. So far, we have presented the stories of many expats who have chosen our country for professional purposes, in order to develop their careers or to set up a business. In the case of the Franco Aloisio, the Italian national, the purpose of his coming to Bucharest was completely different: he wanted to help integrate young people with problems into society. That’s how he got involved in the foundation that Miloud Oukili, a Franco-Algerian clown, set up to support the street children with the help of art.
Franco is 52 years old and was born in southern Italy. He started working when he was quite young, at the age of 15. In parallel, he also studied and graduated from high school and college. He had his first job in constructions, with his father.
During his studies, he had the chance to work within the Milan City Hall as a special educator for children and young people living on the city streets. In 1996 he got in contact with an international foundation which proposed him to go to Nepal for implementing a street children program there. He accepted the challenge and stayed in Nepal for a year and a half.
He came for three months and remained for the rest of his life
When he first arrived in Bucharest at the beginning of 2000, his plan was to stay in Romania for only three months to conduct a feasibility study for a foundation. Things have evolved and so it has been 20 years since Franco Aloisio dedicated himself entirely to Romania.
„I remember arriving in Bucharest on February 7th. It was snowing, and very cold. My colleagues had booked me an apartment in the Titan neighbourhood, on the outskirts. From the window of my flat I could see the steam coming out of the gutters and the workers heading for work. And I was staying in an apartment that had a big poster with a tropical island on a wall in the bedroom. The big picture was discordant. It was my first night in Bucharest”, Franco told us.
The Italian expat admitted that he was fascinated by the capital city of Romania from the very beginning, because it had that very exotic air of a border city. It was the gateway between the East and the West. „ There was street trade everywhere, a big bazaar. And for me it was a romantic image”, Franco underlined.
From the beginning he realized that he had arrived in the middle of a very friendly people, open to foreigners. „ I was the only foreigner in my working team, and my colleagues helped me a lot to integrate”.
Twenty years have passed, and in the meantime Franco has built a life in Romania. He is involved in social activities, being part of many projects aimed at both the integration of young people with problems to the labour market and the support of adults in difficult situations.
He is also active in environmental protection, as he is a founding member of several organisations of this type. He earns his living by the activity of his consulting firm in the field of European funds. Therefore, he is involved in both the social and the economic area of Bucharest.
„Bucharest has become a European city”
The two decades he has spent in our country let him see the changes that the Romanian capital city has undergone over time. He told me from the beginning that, in these past 20 years, Bucharest has become a European city, and the living conditions have improved significantly. The westernisation of Romania has not brought about only good things, as our country has also “imported” many of the problems specific to the Western states. However, Bucharest has remained unique in this European landscape, managing to maintain its freshness.
The country of adoption has allowed him to discover many beautiful places, which Franco Aloisio recommends to any visitor. From Bucharest, for example, he highlighted the Cismigiu Park, which, he confessed, was the first park he visited when he arrived in the city and which draws him a special picture, the image of old Bucharest.
„I also like Stavropoleos Church a lot. When I stroll through the centre of Bucharest, I never miss the opportunity to enter this place of worship and stay there for at least ten minutes. It gives me a sense of tranquillity, of peace of mind. Even if I’m not religious, I feel good there. And if I were to indicate other places, I’d tell you I like the Roman Square / Piaţa Romană and the Magheru Boulevard. I lived there for a year and I confess that, at that time, I did not like it. But now, as I cross them, I feel at home. I feel like I did in the first year when I came to Bucharest. I miss the noise I was hearing from the window of my second-floor apartment, a noise that showed me that the city was alive, that it was a vivid swarm”, Franco Alosio added.
He will continue his life in Romania, more precisely in Bucharest, in the city that adopted him in a cold winter month. Franco Alosio is convinced that he will have thus the opportunity to witness the most important cultural, social and economic “revolution” that the capital city of Romania is only now beginning to undergo.
