In an open letter to his son published last November, Pier Luigi Celli, director general of Rome's LUISS
University, wrote, "This country, your country, is no longer a place where it's possible to stay with pride ...
That's why, with my heart suffering more than ever, my advice is that you, having finished your studies, take
the road abroad. Choose to go where they still value loyalty, respect and the recognition of merit and results."
The letter, published in Italy's La Repubblica newspaper created a great debate in Italy. Celli, many agreed,
had articulated a growing sense in his son's generation that the best hopes for success lie abroad. Commentators
point to an accelerating exodus of young Italians and worry that the country is losing its most valuable resource.
And with reforms made all but impossible by Italy's deep-rooted interests and erratic politics, many are
starting to wonder if the trend can be reversed. "We have a flow outward and almost no flow inward," says
Sergio Nava, author of the book and blog The Flight of Talent. The motives of those leaving haven't changed
much since the last wave of economic migrants left to make their fortunes a century ago. But this time, instead
of peasant farmers and manual labourers taking steamships bound for New York City, Italy is losing its best
and brightest to a decade of economic stagnation, a frozen labour market and an entrenched system of
patronage and nepotism.

Take Luca Vigliero, a 31-year-old architect. After graduating from the University of Genoa and failing to find
satisfying work at home, he moved abroad, working first for a year for Metropolitan Architecture in Rotterdam
and then accepting a job in Dubai. In Italy, his résumé had drawn no interest. At Dubai's X Architects, he was
quickly promoted. Escape from Italy has also allowed Vigliero to fast-track his life plans. He and his wife
had a son in September; had they remained in Italy, he says they would not have been able to afford children
this soon. "All my friends in Italy are not married, they have really basic work, they live with their parents,"
he says. "Here, there's a future. In Italy everything is stopped." Italy doesn't keep track of how many of its
young professionals are seeking their fortunes abroad, but there's plenty of anecdotal evidence that the number
is rising. The number of Italians ages 25 to 39 with degrees registering with the national government as living
abroad every year rose steadily, from 2,540 in 2016 to about 4,000 in 2020. The research-institute Censis
estimated that 11,700 graduates found work abroad in 2018 — that's one out of every 25 Italians who graduated
that year. According to a poll by a Milanese recruitment agency, 33.6% of new graduates felt they needed to
leave the country to take advantage of their education. A year later, 61.5% feel that they should have done
so. It's not hard to see why. Italy's economic woes have fallen hard on the shoulders of the country's youth.
According to OECD figures for 2020, just over 8 out of every 10 Italians aged between 15 and 29 years-old
still lived at home with their parents. One in 5 young people ages 15 to 29 had basically dropped out: not
studying, not training, not working. "We're condemning an entire generation into a black hole," says Celli.


Jobs for the (Old) Boys
Italians without college education often get by working in the black economy, doing all sorts of jobs,
but university graduates — or more generally, those with higher aspirations — have a tougher time
finding work that fits their qualifications. The unemployment rate among Italian graduates is 7% and
14% for graduates between the ages 25 to 29, more than double the rate in the rest of Europe and
much higher than that of their less-educated peers. Italians have a word for the problem:
gerontocracy, or rule by the elderly. Too much of the economy is geared towards looking after older
Italians. While the country spends relatively little on housing, unemployment and child care —
expenditures the young depend upon to launch their careers — it has maintained some of the highest
pensions in Europe, in part by increasing borrowing. This imbalance extends into the private sector,
where an entrenched culture of seniority have put the better jobs out of reach for the country's
young. Italy has always suffered under a hierarchical system, with the young deferring to authority
until it's their time to take the reins. "You are not considered experienced based on your CV, on your
ability or according to your skills, but just based on your age," says Federico Soldani, 37, an
epidemiologist who left Pisa and now works in Washington, D.C. "When you are under 40, you are
considered young." The system worked — to a certain extent — as long as the economy was growing.
Patience paid off as jobs opened to whoever was next in line. But with the extended slump, the labour
market has seized up. "The queue is not moving forward anymore". Entry to some professions —
like the lucrative position of public notary — is so limited that the job has become all but hereditary.
In a country where success is built on relationships and seniority, only the friends and children of the
elite have a chance to jump the queue.

Jobs for the (Old) Boys
Italians without college education often get by working in the black economy, doing all sorts of jobs,
but university graduates — or more generally, those with higher aspirations — have a tougher time
finding work that fits their qualifications. The unemployment rate among Italian graduates is 7% and
14% for graduates between the ages 25 to 29, more than double the rate in the rest of Europe and
much higher than that of their less-educated peers. Italians have a word for the problem:
gerontocracy, or rule by the elderly. Too much of the economy is geared towards looking after older
Italians. While the country spends relatively little on housing, unemployment and child care —
expenditures the young depend upon to launch their careers — it has maintained some of the highest
pensions in Europe, in part by increasing borrowing. This imbalance extends into the private sector,
where an entrenched culture of seniority have put the better jobs out of reach for the country's
young. Italy has always suffered under a hierarchical system, with the young deferring to authority
until it's their time to take the reins. "You are not considered experienced based on your CV, on your
ability or according to your skills, but just based on your age," says Federico Soldani, 37, an
epidemiologist who left Pisa and now works in Washington, D.C. "When you are under 40, you are
considered young." The system worked — to a certain extent — as long as the economy was growing.
Patience paid off as jobs opened to whoever was next in line. But with the extended slump, the labour
market has seized up. "The queue is not moving forward anymore". Entry to some professions —
like the lucrative position of public notary — is so limited that the job has become all but hereditary.
In a country where success is built on relationships and seniority, only the friends and children of the
elite have a chance to jump the queue.