Thessaloniki through the eyes of foreigners: Leonardo Delfanti
When you choose or a city chooses you, you become part of it. Interact with her, with her people.
She gives it to you and you return it. You are assimilated. In a good way, usually. Thessaloniki is such a city, as in its DNA it has the culture of the different cultures and nationalities that have met and still coexist.
Some have lived here for decades. Others only a few years. Most speak fluent Greek, but well, while some write only in their own language or English. born and raised in countries different from our own, with countercultures other cultures, but the search for a different life, career, love or political situation brought them here. All foreigners in the same city, all sociable and receptors of new experiences, images, habits. All the judges, but also forever fascinated with her.
Leonardo Delfanti, student at AUTh.
The former professional dancer and actor, who is now studying Journalism, was born in Verona. After a professional wandering in Rome, London and Berlin, he chose Thessaloniki as he was looking for a master’s degree with a focus on Journalism in Crisis, having the opportunity, from September 2020, to live in a country that, as he says “is a an interesting combination of Europe and the Middle East “.
The first thing I fell in love with in the city was the sincerity of the world. When I spoke to Greeks, everyone was very clear in their ideas and positions. At first it was difficult to get used to such straightforwardness, but I learned to appreciate Greek knowledge. And of course, I loved the bougatsa!
From the beginning I lived in Ano Poli: everything there sounds like magic and this maze of houses and stories immediately caught my attention. The best place in town is the Earth Theater. I have never seen such a wonderful theater in my huge life. I hope to see a show there one day.
A visitor to Thessaloniki I would take him to the markets, the cafes and the Port. More than seeing Thessaloniki, I would try to make him see how Greeks live on the streets, how they take care of others, while they can and do survive the chaos of this globalized world.
If I had the chance to change something, I would probably change the bureaucracy.
If I were the mayor of ThessalonikiI would make it a real melting pot of cultures: every person has a very interesting story and they are all worth telling.
The most important thing that is missing from the city is a place where foreigners and Greeks can meet. I am the kind of person who likes to talk to others on the street and I had the AUTh. which helped me integrate quickly. However, not everyone has the same opportunity: the “crucibles” that threw the bridge between the “strange” Greeks and the shy foreigners.
I would describe the people of Thessaloniki as Middle Easterners.
When I leave the city, I miss it the sound of birds outside my room in Ano Poli.