Warm weather and low costs; in a year, the community has doubled: “Distant children? There are plenty of flights”.

The holidays are over, and it was wonderful, really – equipped beaches, sunbeds for 5 euros a day, bars with English-speaking staff, and always receipts. Free parking, just like Wi-Fi, and areas for children. However, enough for now. We’ll see you in Albania next year, dear Italians – peace and well-being to all, but everyone back home.

But no, we’re staying in Albania because our retirees are coming to live with us. Where once there was a vast pine forest, in the Plepa area along the Durrës waterfront, an hour from the capital Tirana, residential buildings are now being rented or bought by seventy-year-old retirees from Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto. And make no mistake, the direct participants insist until they’re dizzy, there’s no exodus of the destitute or the unfortunate here: “We were entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, Alitalia captains, bank executives, corporate managers”. They have comfortable pensions. And they don’t want to give them to the taxman. Enjoying life.

Low expenses

Carmine Iampietro, 73 years old, former owner of a motorcycle repair shop in Novara, is effectively the mayor of the community. He arrived with his Albanian wife a lifetime ago and paved the way. He fought and is still fighting; his next challenge is to secure health insurance for his people. Perhaps only this element is missing. Besides, in Albania, there are no taxes on pensions, the same goes for apartments, whether one or ten, there’s no car tax, and average condominium expenses don’t exceed 100 euros a year. An all-inclusive monthly bill for electricity, water, internet, and mobile phones (gas is not used in homes) costs 90 euros. Then, depending on the location, you can rent a decent apartment for 300 euros, and you can buy a square meter starting from 800 euros. Moreover, maybe even before… Let’s hear from Carmine, the head of the Italian Retirees Association in Albania, or Apia, if you prefer the acronym: “We could leave our doors open; strangers don’t enter. No thefts, robberies, muggings, in short, no petty crime. We are calm and protected, we have the certainty of moving freely, feeling safe. In Italy, you can only dream of these things, in cities or provinces”.

Well, there’s no getting around it, especially for an elderly person; and it’s okay if we point out that Albanian drug traffickers have made a terrifying progression, becoming masters of the trade worldwide, generating revenues reinvested in resorts and restaurants. Numerous investigative reports have labeled Albania a “narco-state”. Still, all that matters to the citizens is perceived safety. That is, not having your wallet stolen on the street, being pushed to the ground. And despite the necessary and obvious distinctions, the absence of uncontrolled, wandering, and sometimes predatory migration also plays a role in these considerations. This is due to the fact that Albania is not a destination. However, “without getting into left or right politics, if you don’t follow the rules, you pay the price. There’s a crime, there’s a punishment. Period”.

Venetian specialists

To be honest, even the young and lively Tirana, despite its one million inhabitants (a third of the national population) and the usual diabolical traffic, remains devoid of dangers: they may not constitute statistics, but two nights spent wandering around have confirmed this. Even in the alleys, women and girls stroll without worry. There’s never a sense of concern about unknown shadows suddenly appearing, and the only sirens are those of ambulances. And if someone were to snatch a bag from a passerby, those around would jump on him: “Here, they stop to film with their phones while here, they take action. There is a lot of solidarity and civic sense”.

Make no mistake, there are killings in Albania, settling of scores, long-standing feuds. These are issues that mainly concern criminologists, not the elderly. In this regard, in 2022, there were 1,700 registered in the Aire, the Register of Italians Residing Abroad. This year, we are already at 4,000. Carmine receives at least three phone calls a day from fellow countrymen asking about the advantages of relocating and preparing to leave. He also mentions agreements with a private clinic that brings specialists from the Veneto for specialized examinations. Albanian diagnostics, according to friends in Tirana, were already at a high level: waiting lists are limited, often no appointments are necessary, you go and get examined immediately instead of waiting eight months. It’s worth noting that our retirees see them as VIPs: the average Albanian salary is around 500 euros (corruption is rampant), while they live comfortably. It’s a symbiotic relationship, and the elderly, naturally, trigger circuits of benefits. For example, there’s no need to emigrate to Italy to work as caregivers and housekeepers; the work is here. The same goes for physiotherapists, diabetologists, nurses, urologists, even though young Albanians who graduate in Italy quickly flee to Germany or Northern Europe.

“Me and my cat”

“We are a dead country that taxes those who have worked hard,” insist the Italians in Albania. “You are a dead country that doesn’t reward merit,” say the Albanians, often with long stints in Italy, during conversations that rarely take place on cell phones. The old-school commandment of being together, looking each other in the eye, having a coffee together, observing others, watching them, still applies.

Between the Adriatic on one side and the challenging mountains on the other, the air is good; in Plepa, the sea is still warm, and even in December, the temperatures are never extreme. Of course, the physical distance from one’s roots, the separation from children and grandchildren… Or maybe not. To reinforce the current abundance of low-cost flights, Ryanair will also arrive at the end of the month. Ryanair has chosen to invest in Albania’s future, which in turn is in Europe but outside the EU. If it does enter, it won’t be for another ten years, but the Albanians don’t care too much. They are afraid of getting into a disastrous cycle of getting ripped off and beaten. So, is it all right? For retirees, yes, and in abundance. Here’s Gabriella Mondoni: “I’m a widow, 76 years old, born on Lake Maggiore. I worked as a secretary, babysitter, cook. I was tired, tired, and tired of Italy, so one morning I took my crutches, my wheelchair, my suitcases, my cat, and off we went to Durrës. I suffer from severe bone problems, and I needed a place by the sea and in the sun, in peace, with reasonable medical expenses. Visits cost no more than 30 euros. It’s difficult for me to walk, but if I have insomnia, I don’t care. I go out, slowly reach the sea, sit down, and relax. Undisturbed. And I enjoy the moments of happiness”.

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