The meeting with Giovanni M. was one of the first situations in which Rome ceased to be only a city of waiting and became a city of possible contacts. I urgently needed a residence permit, but along with this administrative need I also discovered a man willing to listen, to help and to imagine projects.

The episode is important precisely through its mixture of precariousness and opening: my barely assembled Italian, Giovanni's office, his secretary Anna, the promise to inquire about the “permesso di soggiorno”, and then the unexpected discussion about a possible computer-services company.

Giovanni M. and the residence permit

In my plans, dottore Giovanni M., the contact provided by Panella, could help me with the problem I was about to have with the Italian state as soon as my visa expired on September 23. To be able to remain in Italy, since my stay in Rome was going to be prolonged for who knew how many months, I had to request a “permesso di soggiorno”. I had been in Italy for three weeks, and the matter was becoming urgent. I set to work and, that very afternoon after meeting Panella, tried to put together, with the dictionary in front of me, a text I could recite to Giovanni M. The text I composed was probably full of mistakes, but I hoped that Mr. M. would understand me. Toward evening I picked up the phone and called Giovanni M.

“Buongiorno, sono l’ingegnere L.S.. Con dottore Giovanni M., per favore,” I mangled a bit of Italian.

“Sono Giovanni M.. Buona sera,” M. answered very kindly from the other end of the line.

“Buongiorno, dottore,” I insisted, despite the fact that after midday, in Rome, one already says “buona sera.” “Sono L.S., da chi a parlato a lei signor Alessandro Panella di New York. Potrei chiederle il favore di vederla per aiutarmi in alcune probleme personali?” I recited without taking a breath, getting all the personal pronouns wrong.

M. endured my Italian without a murmur, then gave me an appointment at his office in Via San Nicola da Tolentino two days later, at 10:30 in the morning.

Giovanni's office

On the appointed day I presented myself on the first floor of the building in the center of Rome where Giovanni M.'s office was located. I was received by Anna, the secretary, a woman of about fifty with a blond bob haircut, short, fat, moustached, and unpleasant, who led me into her boss's room, dottor M. He received me cordially and invited me to sit down in front of his desk. M. was a man of about sixty, rather tall, wearing glasses, olive-skinned, almost bald, with a few strands of hair stretched across his head, and very jovial. For the first time, I tried to speak Italian, since I had already begun to do so with him on the telephone without frightening him, proof of which was that now M. addressed me in his native language.

Permesso di soggiorno

I explained my problem with the “permesso di soggiorno,” and M. promised me that he would inquire about how I could obtain it as quickly as possible. I understood that he had been a colleague of the head of the Italian police, Vincenzo Parisi, so I could not imagine a more important connection than that. As soon as he found the way for me to obtain it, Anna would notify me and explain what I had to do. I thanked him and was about to leave, but M. stopped me. He wanted to know more about me. I felt flattered and briefly told him what I had done and why I had wanted to leave Romania. When he heard that I knew how to program computers, indeed that I was a professor of programming, he became even more interested. In turn, he explained to me that he had recently retired and was looking for an activity to fill his free time. He was thinking of founding a commercial company, an SRL, and was looking for associates (soci) who would support him in managing the company. He had found as an associate a younger cousin of his, also Neapolitan, but he still needed someone who knew how to manage a commercial company.

A possible computer-services company

“And what would be the object of this company's activity, what would it deal with?” I asked, curious.

“I have not decided yet; it will also depend on the opinion of my associates. In my view, however, we should find a fashionable activity, for example one connected with the computers that have begun to penetrate all layers of society and all fields,” M. answered, watching me carefully, as if he were expecting an idea from me.

I began to understand why he had kept me there; he wanted me to give him a hand in deciding the object of the future company, if it was to deal with computers.

“It is a very good idea to deal with computers. Their market is practically infinite at this moment,” I encouraged him. “But you must know that it has already diversified. Such a company, an SRL, could, for example, supply computers or computing equipment to those who want to computerize their activity. Of course, it would not manufacture the computers, but it could be a dealer or intermediary for a large company that produces computers. Then, the company could deal with producing applications for already installed computers, applications meant to solve clients' management problems, for instance an accounting application for a larger enterprise. The company could also provide both the computer and the specialized application for computerizing an activity such as managing clients' assets. This would be the case of a turnkey computer configured for the respective enterprise. Finally, the company could provide introductory courses in computer use or advanced courses in programming,” I tried to summarize the possible directions in the computing market. “In fact, these directions can be combined within the object of the new company's activity, as happens in many start-ups,” I concluded my reasoning.

M. followed me attentively and from time to time wrote ideas down on a sheet of paper.

“Could you help us if we decide to found a company in the field of computers?” he asked me.

“With great pleasure,” I answered.

And we parted, promising each other that we would meet again for other interesting discussions.

The meeting with M. had comforted me. I had found in him a person who could bend over the pains or problems of others with a spirit that could only be Christian.

Conclusion

The meeting with Giovanni M. did not immediately solve all my problems. The residence permit still had to be obtained, and the idea of a computer-services company was still vague. Yet for me, after the weeks at Di Rienzo, Caritas and the refugee organizations, this discussion had a comforting effect: someone was listening to me not only as a foreigner in difficulty, but as a man with a potentially useful competence.

From such fragile and uncertain encounters, my Roman network was gradually built. It was not yet integration, but it was a passage from mere survival to the possibility of acting. Giovanni M. was one of the first half-open doors.

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