While in Italy people talk about the economic crisis, temporary jobs and job offers after the age of 30, several Italians under 30 have found stability in Bulgaria, at least when it comes to their work. 

And if in Italy "the 1000 euro generation" finds it difficult to cope with the everyday cost of living, in Bulgaria the "2000 leva generation" has no such problems. This is not only because of the difference between the euro and the lev and the cheaper life in Bulgaria which allows people a little bit of luxury from time to time. 

The main difference is that in Bulgaria "there is room for people who want to work", says Alberto Vitturi, 27, from Venice.

He has been in Bulgaria for only a few months after having first encountered the country as part of the Erasmus student exchange network.

After graduating from university, he came to spend an internship in Bulgaria which led to his current job in Italian-Swiss company Diarcon, that works in the field of finance. "In Italy I wouldn’t have got such a job so easily," Alberto says. 

Desire for work and courage are probably the best qualities of this group of Italian young people who have come to Bulgaria, according to Davide Garbin, 25, from Trieste.

"Bulgaria gives a lot of opportunities and it has been attracting Italian specialists for a number of years now," says Garbin, who is head of Bulgarian VIP clients department at Generali insurance company.

 "This is a developing market and potentially good workers are highly appreciated and can develop careers very quickly. The experience from abroad is also very useful for us as well as the fact that both Italy and Bulgaria are European countries," he says.  

Courage is needed to leave home for a destination such as Bulgaria and not one of the large capitals of Western Europe. For some of these Italians, Bulgaria was their first experience abroad.

One such Italian is 28-year-old Serena Giordano from Naples. She is a quality, environment, security and social responsibility consultant at CTQ company.

"When I was offered the job I said to myself, why not, and just came here. I didn’t think that I would find such a beautiful place and that I would blend in so well. For us, Italians, there are many opportunities here, as long as, we want to work hard and manage to adjust," she says. 

Marika Fantoni and Daniele Marinangeli also had to show courage in order to stay together. They met at school 10 years ago, after which they separated and met several times until Daniele finally followed Marika to Bulgaria and they settled in Sofia.

Marika is project manager at the Bulgarian company SAAD Consulting and came to Sofia about four years ago on a project under the European Union’s Leonardo da Vinci programme.

"I liked the country a lot and it was easy for me to find a job and I simply stayed," she says. Daniele came a year ago after he found a job on the internet with Sofplan architectural office.

For now, both see their future in Bulgaria and in the meantime spend their weekends going around the country searching for a home that they can buy and renovate.

The director of the Committee of Italian Firms in Bulgaria – CCIIB, is also a young man in his 20s. His name is Federico Cassi, born in Florence 26 years ago. He has been living and working in Sofia for the past two years. Occasionally he feels nostalgic for Florence and his girlfriend but he remains in Bulgaria because "I am ambitious and believe in the goals of the association I work for, and want to accomplish the projects we have planned in support of Italian business in Bulgaria and on the Balkans," he says.

The view of Luca Balbiano from Piemonte on his stay in Bulgaria is that he will remain  here as long as he has his job. Luca, aged 24, has been working in Bulgaria since he was 18. He is member of two companies, Bultek and Elettro LR.

He has a Bulgarian girlfriend from Plovdiv, a stable business and great command of the Bulgarian language. Luca came to Bulgaria following his father who is also an entrepreneur. Today he has no regrets about his choice and can only be proud, since many of his fellow Italians at the age of 24 are still dreaming about the things he has already achieved.