The first Albanian mayor in Italy recounts the difficulties of emigrating from Elbasan

Sindi Manushi is the first Albanian to head a municipality in Italy.

Elected as mayor of Pieve di Cadore, Sindi Manushi, told in 'Opinion' how she and her family immigrated to Italy.

Manushi confesses that she was 9 years old when she moved from Elbasan to Pieve di Cadore as she shows the difficulties she faced in her beginnings in Italy.

Excerpts from the conversation:

Sindi Manushi: I have always lived in Elbasan before I came here.

Blendi Fevziu: How did you move to Italy, who made the decision? How do you remember even though you were very small?

Sindi Manushi: Yes, I was little, but those memories were very clear in my mind. My uncle came here in the 90s, this is a touristic, mountainous area. My uncle came and worked as a cook and then my father came.

We came 3 years after my father came here. Both father and uncle came here clandestinely. We came with papers, plus since the beginning of the 2000s, the opinion about Albanians here was somewhat different. In the 90s there were many prejudices, while in the 2000s the opinion had started to change.

Blendi Fevziu: For a 9-year-old who was born and raised in Elbasan and moves to a completely new life, how difficult was it?

Sindi Manushi: Very difficult because Pieve is different from Elbasan, here it is a small place, the air is very clean, there is no metallurgy here, there is a lot of snow, it is very cold. Even people are cold, but when they get to know you, those first prejudices don't count and they open up, they are honest people.

Blendi Fevziu: What did you study?

Sindi Manushi: I studied in Albania until the third grade, then I finished high school here and then I studied Law in Trento. I came back because I don't like medium cities, I don't have mine. I chose to come back here to Pieve