There is a mantra going around the city, “they come back fresh, fresh from outside and they want to lead the city”. So according to the artfully disseminated common knowledge, leaving is a mortal sin that cannot be forgiven, ever. The little phrase is said during any discussion when talking about elections and candidates. The reference is clear to two of the four totals to date: Palazzetti and Conticelli, but it does not apply only to them, to many, too many.
In the past, it was even said, “go and gain experience outside!”. What has changed today? Nothing or almost nothing. Especially if we take into consideration the macro-economic data of the area: demographic decline and asphyxiated economy. So if a person leaves, whether a candidate or not, to follow his own aspirations, which do not find satisfaction here, he is guilty of treason. Yet a job opportunity, which is also in line with one’s studies, does not come along every day.
The question to ask and that past and present, but above all future, mayors should ask themselves is another: why do so many young people leave Orvieto? According to the in-depth analyzes of the CTS, the territorial economy is centered on tourism, which however does not create a network, on agriculture and the classic, non-advanced tertiary sector. Not only that, wealth is concentrated among the over 50s, with a low propensity to invest and therefore to develop businesses. And last but not least, the first two companies in Orvieto are public bodies, the Municipality and the Local Health Authority, a symptom of the lack of an economic-productive fabric capable of attracting high-profile professional figures.
Then there is an all-Orvieto evil for which only and exclusively the ancient motto “mors tua vita mea” applies. Yes, you don’t look at your professional, economic, social and family growth; we don’t think about how to improve ourselves, perhaps simply by studying, but about how to destroy the other, then if he is a “foreigner” the phrase “but what do you think you’re doing here?” starts.
More than the foreigner, however, the worst sinner is the person from Orvieto who, according to some, should give up his dreams, his earnings and his professional growth in order to remain perched on the cliff. If he then brings his own experience, his own skills back to the city, then the tom-tom of doubt, of the joke, of “but if he didn’t know how to make the ‘o’ with the glass when he was young!” is triggered!… In other words, not we grow, we don’t mature and we remain stuck. Forever. University studies, master’s degrees, curricula, work experiences are useless, only childhood and adolescence are worth it and that’s it. The same goes for new business models, new entrepreneurial activities coming from Orvietos by adoption who however chose the city because they were convinced and, perhaps, in love with Orvieto. No, they are too often considered predators who have arrived in the “village” to cheat others. Thus Orvieto risks not growing, losing important trains and above all not having Orvietos who decide to return to invest money, time, ideas for the good of the city and the future of its citizens.
