Professor in the United States chooses Sambuca (Pistoia) to live. And he is a candidate as “doctor” Il Tirreno

SAMBUCA PISTOIESE. In 65 years he can say he hasn’t been bored. Pier Luigi Di Patre, originally from Nuoro, graduated in medicine in Florence, spent his entire career in the United States and Switzerland and has now returned to Italy, to a small village in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines to become a family doctor. He will apply for the new call by choosing that destination where, in the hamlet of Taviano, he will work as a doctor. It all began with a great nostalgia for Italy which never abandoned him and which in his life made him return to his land several times. «Yes, confirm. I will participate in the tender to become a family doctor here”, he says. And highlighting that so far (at least for almost two years) there has been no queue, Doctor Di Patre could probably make his wish come true. «I graduated in Florence – he says – and I did my PhD in geriatrics, half in Tuscany and the other part in Los Angeles. Once I returned to Italy I realized that the academic career was difficult and there was little money for research and so I left for the United States. Here, in Texas and in Los Angeles, I took two specializations: in neuropathology and in pathological anatomy. I returned after a few years, worked for a while in Switzerland and then the profession brought me back to America where I became a professor at A&M University. Nothing, I continued to feel homesick for Italy and, aware that there were no doctors, I returned.”

Doctor Di Patre smiles, still retaining a bit of English intercalation. «I thought – he says ironically – that I would find Mattarella at the airport but it wasn’t exactly like that. Even for a specialized doctor like me it wasn’t easy so I worked in Anzio in an Rsa and then embarked on ferries for the largest shipping companies. Until I decided to apply for basic healthcare, I chose Tuscany thinking of Lucca, Florence, Pisa. Instead they sent me a list of areas lacking personnel.” And here is the first meeting with Sambuca Pistoiese. «I looked where it was and its position on the Apennines made me think of a bucolic, idyllic place, inhabited by people who really needed a doctor. In January I got a job as a medical guard for a year.”

Di Patre arrived on January 1st and the mayor Fabio Micheletti immediately “spotted” him. «My fellow citizens have a family doctor – he says – but the clinic is in Pistoia, 35-40 kilometers away. I understood that the new medical guard might be interested. From May he will have a clinic once a week and by participating in the ranking he will be able to aspire to be a family doctor here.”

When Di Patre arrived it wasn’t love at first sight. “To say there were four cats is an exaggeration,” he comments. «Then as the days went by I realized that my service was really useful to the inhabitants. I rented an apartment and made available to those who came to me.”

The doctor felt at ease despite the big difference with the United States and he liked that municipality in the middle of the mountains. «What surprises me and makes me very happy is the attitude of the patients. They are polite, truly delightful and when they leave the clinic I find them grateful for the explanations and the time I dedicated to them. Within a few weeks I was adopted. And I believe that my skills and my research can become research for this country where beautiful Italian is spoken. A language that I love and that I have had so much nostalgia for.”