The city was chosen in a tourist guide and today Gianluca is one of the city's app drivers
In about six months, Italian Gianluca Porcellana, 28, made a decision to completely change his life. He left his hometown of Asti in Piedmont, northern Italy, came to Brazil and chose Campo Grande as his hometown. Before arriving here, he visited São Paulo and Minas Gerais with the idea of living in a Brazilian city.
Gianluca says he was never interested in living in another country or learning another language before Brazil. Nowadays, he speaks Portuguese, almost without difficulty. He spent around five months studying before coming to Brazil and he says he arrived without any problems speaking, as there are words and verbs that are similar. “But they use a lot of slang here. They say one thing to say another and I was confused. But then I got used to it.”
The idea of living in Brazil began when, by chance, he met some Brazilians who were studying in Italy. There, according to him, the Italians only knew São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and, at most, Brasília. In June 2017, he came to Brazil and visited São Paulo, Belo Horizonte and looking at a tourist guide, he found Campo Grande.
“I had a guide who talked about all the cities and I wanted to try. I met a girl here who helped me too. Of the places I've been, [Campo Grande] was where I thought it was best, even visiting and going out. I didn't have that fear. They always say that Brazil is dangerous, even the Brazilians I knew said that. Here, I didn’t feel that”, says the Italian.
In Italy, Gianluca studied art and worked with painting restoration, but he was not in the area when he came to Brazil. When he returned to Italy and to work in a market, he started thinking about something new and decided to change. He packed what he could and, six months after visiting Brazil, he came to live in Campo Grande.
“Here people imagine Italy as a beautiful, perfect place with no crisis problems. I even thought it was good, similar to Brazil. Politics is the same, there are corruption problems and the same thing is said about politicians. I came here and found a better way to live. It's less busy, the traffic is calmer. Everyone here says this: It’s a capital with a country feel.”
In Campo Grande, he worked for two months in a company, it didn't work out and he decided to become an app driver and now, he travels around the entire city taking and talking to people from Campo Grande.
“Here people come in and start talking. There [in Italy] the people are colder. They even say that the people of Campo Grande are more closed, somewhat rude, but I didn't feel that. Because for me it was different. There people mind their own business. Some greet you, others don't. But it’s normal, no one feels bad because no one said hi to you.”
At the moment, the Italian is not thinking about leaving the city. According to him, nature and tranquility are some of the positive points. “When I talk to people here, the classic phrase is 'what are you doing lost here?'. They should know what it's like there. It's not a good time. There are people who do well there, but not all of them. I see here that people walk around with their cell phones in their hands. Maybe it’s not like that in more remote neighborhoods, but it’s still quieter.”
For him, the only disadvantage is being away from his family, but for now, he is not thinking about returning to Italy.
“It all happened in two years. I started to fall in love, curious about Brazil and visited it. I had never thought of somewhere other than Italy. Today I see myself happier than the life I had there. Work took a lot out of my day. There was little time left to do other things. I studied art and I like to paint. Today I can paint sometimes.
I was at a stage in my life where I wouldn't lose much by coming here. She was 27 years old and I thought maybe this is the time. In a few years, she could have had a home, a family to raise, but she didn't have that. I only had one job that I wasn't very satisfied with. I changed it, and I can say, for the best”, says Gianluca.
By Wendy Tonhati / Campo Grande News
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