(May 15) “I work in the European Agency for the development of fusion energy (www.f4e.europa.eu), where I’m in charge of the department that deals with the definition of contracts to build components for the Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ITER, which is under construction in southern France. This is the largest international research project in the world, with the participation of Europe, U.S., China, India, Japan, South Korea and Russia. The project, worth about a billion euros per year, is carried out by companies and laboratories in the 27 EU member countries and Switzerland.” So says Leonardo Biagioni, aeronautical engineer in Barcelona since 2008. “I’ve studied in Pisa where I graduated in Aeronautical Engineering. After a period in the United States, at Syracuse University, and again in Pisa, at the Scuola Normale, I finally got a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering, also in Pisa.” Biagioni, 43 year from La Spezia, deals with industrial contracts for European components of the ITER project, he lives in Spain with his family, that follow him. “Barcelona is very similar to an Italian city and, in many ways, is better. For me and my family, life in Barcelona is a good one and we have no integration problems. We have no intention of returning to Italy at the moment because we don’t see any interesting perspectives in there.” According to Biagioni, “the phenomenon of ‘new migration’ is a one-way movement: those who leave, they don’t want to come back.” (Gil/Red)
