22-08-2024
The Misterious Influx of the Foreign Homeless Population in Italy.

I work in the city, the same city I attend University in. In order to get there I take the bus or the train, subsequently I walk about 25 minutes to reach my working place.
Last week , during one of these morning walks, I noticed a man laying down next a building's porch. By the appearence and the unclear words spoken in a foreign accent, the man gave hints of not being italian, but of german descent (I assumed). I thought his behaviour was a bit bizzare, but I didn't think much of it since it wouldn't have been my first time seeing a tourist acting in that manner anyways.
I reached the conclusion that he must have been one of those hiking tourist taking a break from the considerable physical effort.

After the end of my shift, I naturally went down the same road in order to catch my bus and that man was still there; with the only difference that he was awake and sitting down this time around. I thought to myself "Wait a second, that's an actual homeless guy".
That realization brought back a memory from the previous year. I was sitting inside a fastfood place, waiting for my order. At some point a tall young man approaches me, he didn't speak a lick of italian. He askes in english if I had some coins to share with him and his girlfriend, then proceeds to point in her direction. I gave him what I had, which wasn't much since I rarely bring cash with me to be frank. After that brief meeting I started noticing many such cases of homeless foreign people roaming around the city, often in groups, and often quite young, they could pass as university students.

"Where are you trying to get? What's your point?" You may ask. Well let's say you live in the UK, wouldn't it be odd the presence of a noticeable concentration of young homeless kids from France?I mean how the hell did they get there in the first place? And I'm not saying there are a shit ton of homeless german people navigating the urban areas of Italy, but just enough to raise some questions.
This is just a wild assumption, and I don't have any sort of proof that would help verify the trutfulness of it, but after that first interaction I thought it probably had something to do with drugs or a some pyramid scheme scam, giving the age of the couple.
What else can I say? Stay safe out there guys!

-Cece