When Elena Parisi, an engineer, left Italy at age 22 to pursue a career in London five years ago, she joined the vast ranks of talented Italians escaping a sluggish job market and lack of opportunities at home to find work abroad.
But in the past year, as the coronavirus pandemic forced employees around the world to work from home, Ms. Parisi, like many of her compatriots, seized on the opportunity to really go home, to Italy.
In between Zoom meetings and her other work for a recycling company in London, she took long strolls on the beach near her family’s home in Palermo, Sicily, and talked recipes at dawn with vendors in the local market.
“The quality of life is a thousand, thousand times better here,” said Ms. Parisi, who is now in Rome.
I imagine that there are some chemists who may have been able to return home (wherever that may be) due to the pandemic, but how long will that last?
Italy does have some decent pharma activity. Last year I interviewed for a US-based BD Manager position with IRBM, an Italian CRO. I had never heard of them until then, and they seem to be a little-known diamond in the rough.
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