New locals: contributors before testimonials

In the preliminary RELOCALS material, 65% of 103 participants say Italian institutions, organisations or businesses have never engaged them to offer perspective, expertise or audience. The question includes different actors and contributions: it does not isolate municipal responsibility or measure how many partnerships would have succeeded. It identifies a gap worth investigating.

For a Sicilian community, asking a new resident to evaluate a service in languages they know could be more useful than inviting them only to praise the scenery. This is U Chianu’s proposal, not an observed local outcome. Relevant skills, clear assignments and payment for professional contributions matter. Arriving from abroad does not automatically make someone a consultant or oblige them to promote their chosen home for free.

Matteo Cerri’s kit also reports that 75.7% changed how they describe Italy after living there: affection can coexist with criticism. RELOCALS ↗ is produced by NOMAG, ITS Italy and We the Italians using an initial purposive sample. The author and publications belong to the same commercial ecosystem: their proposals warrant the same scrutiny of evidence as those of an external organisation.