Meet the Argentinian doctors who are fascinated by the Sicilian rural idyll

La Dolce Vita isn’t always about chasing the absurd dream of living in a rural, sleepy village where time stands still.

For some, it’s part of a career change: a radical professional overhaul that comes with a laid-back lifestyle.

“Due to the lack of doctors in the village hospital, a partnership has been signed between the University of Rosario in Argentina and our city hall to fill the vacancies and soon we will have new Argentinian doctors who speak fluent Italian,” Mussoli Mayor Giuseppe Catania told CNN.

The partnership began as a promotional tool to attract foreign investment for the urban renewal of Musumeli, Catania says, and now it’s doing more than just solving the health care emergency.

“These new doctors are also interested in contributing to the ongoing revitalization projects to breathe new life into the historic center, including buying and renovating abandoned houses.

In recent years, Mussomeli has sold more than 300 cheap properties starting at 5,000 euros and 150 one-euro houses to foreign professionals and smart workers. Many new buyers would come from Argentina, where Musomali families had emigrated in the 1900s.

‘Easy to take and chill’

A number of Italian-Argentine doctors recently visited Mussolini to meet officials, school children and future colleagues and to get a sense of the city’s turmoil.

For Rosario-based AR surgeon Leonardo Roldan, moving to Sicily has a two-fold goal.

“I’m still young, 49, so it’s not just a professional change in my career: it’s a choice to live a different life, the polar opposite of where I live in Argentina, and to take my family with me.”

Roldan, who used to live in northern Italy, says he never realized how beautiful Sicily was until he met Mussomelli, which helped him overcome some preconceived notions about the deep south he had picked up while living in the north.

“Mussoli is a complete break from my everyday reality. It’s another world: quiet, peaceful, where the locals live a simple lifestyle. I understand that we all need to slow down and simplify at some point in our lives. Take more time to taste quality things.”

For him, Mussomelli is an opportunity to live a slower life and use his free time to enjoy what he loves most: running through the village’s pristine hills full of grazing sheep and exploring the wonders of Sicily. He compares it to giving up fast food for slow food.

Roldan plans to move from Argentina with his entire family, including his dog, and has been looking for a few properties.

“The city council has done a wonderful job with the affordable housing scheme, and at some point, once I’m settled, I might just buy one and fix it up as a life project in no rush,” he says.

Initially, he plans to move into a country house with a garden on the outskirts of Mussomeli, but if his one-year contract is extended, he will be happy to embark on a one-euro-or-cheap home improvement adventure.

“I don’t want it to be an investment, I don’t want to turn it into a boutique or business, it’s going to be a place I call home in the future.”

Moving to Mussomeli allows Roldan to reconnect with his Italian roots, where four of his great-grandfathers emigrated from Italy to Argentina.

Opportunity to return

Diego Colabianchi is looking forward to his Sicilian adventure.

Diego Colabianchi

Argentina is in an economic crisis, which is the reason for the decision to move, the Italian-Argentine pediatrician Diego Colabianchi, from Rosario. His wife, an obstetrician, cannot join the ranks of doctors in Mussomi either.

“I studied in Italy, we love and miss living in Italy. The recruitment is a chance to go back, and I’m happy because it gives me the prospect of a life change. I’ve never been to Mussolini before but I’ve really seen it. I’m living there — a modest village world, the quiet, the endless. Curiosity piqued in me.

Colabianchi says he longs for a new experience in a peaceful setting surrounded by nature and being treated to good, authentic Sicilian food is another plus point.

“At this stage in my life I can’t even see myself living in Rome, it’s too chaotic. But Mussolini is perfect, not too small, between the village and the city.”

“I like the place you hit, high in the mountains, opposite the plains of Rosario where I live now. Also, Mussomelli is close to the beaches, hills, olive trees, vineyards and farmers who make good wool.”

It helps to uproot and renovate the dilapidated property and revitalize the old district. But Colabianchi wants to take it one step at a time.

“I will finish the first year in Mussolini to get used to my new environment, but my dream is to stay there and live for good, so at some point it is better to buy a one-euro house or an abandoned cheap house, of course an option”

“full of life”

For Buenos Aires-based gastroenterologist Edgardo Trapp, working as a doctor in Mussomi is a double challenge.

“I want to start doing different things, and I want to see different things. Most of all, I want a professional jolt and when I visited Mussomily, I felt this energy running through the village. It is full of life.”

Trapp says working in Sicily allows him to be closer to his children in Europe and fully connect with his Sicilian heritage.

“My three grandfathers came from Caltanissetta, and Musumeli is part of the same province, so it can’t be a coincidence.”

Unlike his Rosario colleagues, Trapp has some concerns that Mussolini might be a little sleepy for him compared to life in Buenos Aires, which he says he’s completely satisfied with.

“It’s a peaceful, quiet little village. Maybe a little quiet.” [compared to] What I expected at first, which was my first visit, but I am happy and looking forward to this experience.

And once he’s working regularly at the hospital and has a long-term perspective on his stay in Sicily, Trapp says he might buy an abandoned house and renovate it.