Luckily Francesca has a cousin who does body building. Because, when the electric water heater detached from the wall and only the corner of a piece of furniture prevented it from smashing on the floor, the landlord didn’t know how to be of much help: «Miss, find a big friend who can hang the boiler back in its place». In the meantime, cold showers and watch out for flooding.
This is how one lives in Milan, from non-resident students who manage to get rentals within their budget: 300/400 euros eachexpenses aside, when it’s good (but very good), for a bed in a shared room, a bathroom and a small living room with open kitchen. Plus the bills and minus some conveniences: because for that amount you can’t expect the window frames to be new, or even just recent. In Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, in the small tent city set up in front of the Polytechnic by the former outraged of Italian universities, people protest, discuss, welcome journalists, have lunch (with the sketch prepared the night before in the aforementioned kitchenette) and makes fun of the slightly too bohemian standard of living of future engineers. But above all of a “repulsive” city who doesn’t seem to care about them, at least until he needs the skills they’ve acquired in uncomfortable and expensive small rooms in the suburbs.
From Lecce to Villapizzone, in the north-western district of Milan, Francesca, 20, attends the three-year course in environmental engineering and considers herself “lucky” because she learned early, in mid-July two years ago, that she had been admitted to the Polytechnic. You therefore had a couple of months more than the other freshmen to find yourself, through word of mouth, an accommodation just half an hour by public transport from the university: «A two-room apartment in a gigantic condominium from the 60s or 70s. The furnishings are basic and sometimes the handles don’t work together, but the house overall is in order and my current roommate is nice». Of course, returning home in winter after six in the evening is not a relaxing walk, especially for a girl: underground green line to Porta Garibaldi, then the railway link and finally ten minutes at a fast pace in the dark alongside the Bovisa station . «I’ve been harassed before and there have been several attacks in the area – Francesca admits -, but a neighbor occasionally makes the journey with me ».
Giovanni is a little older: already graduated in mechanical engineering, is now studying at the master’s course in Geoinformatics. You left Bologna in 2018 and, in four years, changed four roommates: «Three of them – she says – had problems with depression. At the beginning there were three of us in a three-room apartment: two in a double room and the other in a single. The apartment was being renovated: we connected the water and the washing machine. we paid 1,300 euros of rent, including expenses, in the Central Station area, and another hundred for electricity and internet ». During the pandemic he returned to Bologna but, when the university reopened, the search for accommodation began again: «I found a room at the Bovisa, thanks to a friend who let it go. Now there are two of us, with a bedroom each and a kitchenette». Yes, happen to argue about cleaning or restocking the fridge, but there are other inconveniences: «For 1,100 euros a month we have old furniture and, as household appliances, a washing machine and a microwave oven. I won’t look long for a job in Milan if I don’t earn enough to pay my rent. I will go abroad. I speak German, English and Chinese.’
True, Francesca and Giovanni are lucky compared to many others: “My parents – says Francesca – have been saving for my university studies since I was little”. Giovanni knows that, with his specialization, he won’t struggle to find work, but in the meantime they both make do with “the 150 hours”, the paid collaborations (10/13 euros per hour) for the students of the Polytechnic. And they pull the belt: “I haven’t been out to dinner for two months” informs John. Francesca laughs: «I do, sometimes, but she offers my boyfriend».