Jasmina (@jasmina_wanders) was just over twenty when she decided that getting through the days by dreaming of a different life wasn’t enough. She’d always loved Italy, but for a long time it didn’t feel realistic – too complicated, too hard to break into professionally. It took an Erasmus in Paris, a master’s degree in Mantova, and 80 to 90 job applications sent across the country to prove herself wrong. She’s now living in Noto, Sicily, working as an architect. Nine months in, building a life she actually wants to be in. But how did she get there?
The Beginning
Jasmina grew up in England – Luton, then Leigh-on-Sea, then Bath, where she studied architecture. But even in a city she loved, something was off:
“When I was in England, I was never satisfied with my life. I survived through escapism. I would get through what I had to do – whether it was work or studies or day-to-day life – by dreaming of something else, whether it was a trip that I had planned, and I would be constantly living outside of my current reality because I was never satisfied. It was like I was just waiting all the time, but I didn’t know what for.”
So in her twenties, she went on an Erasmus in Paris. And something shifted:
“Paris was an important chapter of my life. When you’re put outside of your comfort zone and you’re in a place where you have no prior connections, nothing to bias who you are, you really rediscover yourself. It’s the first time you are alone, and who you are in that moment is who you are.”
By the time she was finishing her bachelor’s, she was applying for a master’s in Italy. She got into the Politecnico di Milano, but in the Mantoue campus – a city of around 50,000 in the north – where she spent two years studying historic architecture renovation. When she finished, the plan was simple: wherever work came from, that’s where she’d go. She sent her portfolio across the whole country. What came back was Sicile – specifically, a studio in Noto, a town of 24,000 people in the south-east of the island.
North vs. South: What She Wasn’t Expecting
Italy is a very large country. And as we’ve seen in the various reports we publish each week, the weather differs a lot depending on where you go. You can be in the North and find great weather year-round, but you can also be in Central or Southern Italy and live in an area where it rains a lot throughout the year.
When she left England, Jasmina figured she was at least leaving the cold and the rain behind. Instead, she landed in the Pianura Padana – a flat, foggy, but remarkably well-connected area:
“I really enjoyed my time in Mantova. I appreciated very much the fact that it’s very easy to get around by train. I traveled a lot in northern Italy, everywhere by train, and the connections are very easy and the tickets are relatively cheap. In Sicily, there are some buses and trains, but they’re not very reliable, the hours are very limited, and the connections are not very good at all. Even by car there are very few motorways, so you have to go around the whole island to get where you want to go. In Sicily, a car is essential.”
But Sicily also taught her something she hadn’t anticipated – how to slow down. The three-hour afternoon pause, the gelato break, the granita ritual. Things that once would have felt like wasted time became things she’d actually miss if she left:
“Before moving here, I was pretty uptight and anxious. I used to feel guilty if I wasn’t filling every second of the day productively. There’s a phrase here in Sicily that completely changed my perspective: comu veni, si cunta – which basically means that you can’t control what’s coming, so there’s no point stressing about it, because it’s just going to have a negative impact on you. You’ve got to just take it as it comes and go with the flow.”
Visas, Paperwork, and Learning to Let Go
Nine months into working life, Jasmina is still mid-process – converting a student permit into a work permit, with August as her deadline. Italy’s bureaucracy, as anyone who’s dealt with it knows, runs on its own timeline:
“Living in Italy, you learn that sometimes you just have to let go, because there are a lot of things in the bureaucracy that you can’t control. You just have to wait and hope. And things always seem to work out. Just take it one step at a time, one document at a time.”
Les job itself is a different story. Back in the UK, work was professional, bounded, transactional – you did what you had to and went home. In Noto, it’s something else entirely:
“I feel like I’m coming to hang out with my family or friends. We’re always chatting, we have music on in the office, and we know all about each other’s personal lives. Especially for someone who lives here without family – I moved here alone, I didn’t know anyone in the town – it’s very important for me to come and feel like I have people who look after me.”
What Does It Feel Like to Actually Live in Noto
There are plenty of art cities across Italy – most of them well-known. Think of Florence, Vicenza, Urbino. But outside of Italy, not everyone knows Noto. For Jasmina, living here also means being exposed to a style that is inevitably influencing her and her career as an architect.
Sicily has been under Norman, Arab, ancient Greek, Spanish, and Italian rule – each left its mark. There’s an Arab-Norman fusion style recognized by UNESCO as unique, something that doesn’t exist anywhere else. Noto itself is an almost entirely Baroque town, rebuilt after a 17th-century earthquake by architects working with Spanish influence and ornamentation. For someone trained in historic architecture renovation, it’s a living laboratory.
“I was born to parents of Polish and Albanian origins. I lived in several cities in the UK. I don’t see myself as having one cultural identity or being one specific thing. So in a very abstract way, I relate to the island. Sicily is a mix of everything – shaped by the people here through the centuries – and I feel connected to it in that way.”
It’s worth noting that Noto is changing fast. The 7% impôt forfaitaire has put it on the expat map – Argentinians especially, but increasingly others too. Palaces are being turned into luxury hotels, short-term rentals are eating up the housing stock, and recherche d'un appartement is harder than it used to be. The cost of living is still reasonable compared to the UK, but the quiet town it once was is becoming something else.
What hasn’t changed, at least not yet, is the soul of the place:
“It’s a feeling you have when you’re here that it’s human, and things are raw and not always polished and perfect. Sicily is very chaotic, very real. People complain about the mess and the dirtiness. I think it comes from its realness, and that’s something I enjoy here.”
Sharing It Online
Jasmina started documenting her life in Sicily on Instagram in October, after friends pushed her to take what she was sharing privately and open it up. The goal was to show the real Sicily – which apparently needs doing: “There are some people who ask me if there are medical services, who tell me it’s more civilised than they expected. There are so many stereotypes”.
She also hears from Sicilians who left years ago – for Germany, the UK, the US – and watch her content to stay connected to somewhere they still think of as home. That wasn’t something she planned for, but it’s become one of the things that gives her account meaning beyond just sharing her own experience.
“I get so many messages of people thanking me every day, who live abroad and left for work and miss Sicily. And so they’re kind of living it and, curing their nostalgia for it by seeing it through my eyes again and having that connection to their land. So I think when I started, there were all these different factors that started coming in that I didn’t account for at first, but then gave importance to my profile and made me want to share more and continue.”
Just Go For It
Talking to Jasmina made me realize how much our generation (I’m 24 too) is quietly dismantling old assumptions and building new ones. In a world where distance is almost irrelevant, where you can pack up and start over somewhere completely new, we keep choosing slower, simpler places. Closer to nature, further from the noise. Not to escape ambition, but to live alongside it.
Jasmina’s path was far from smooth. Before finding her footing here, she sent out 80 to 90 job applications. She took on an entirely new language – starting with Duolingo at home, sharpening it on the ground in Italy. She chose to study here knowing she wanted to stay, without knowing exactly where or how. Each small step was a bet on a future she couldn’t yet see clearly.
“I think even if you think that the things you’re doing aren’t important, won’t make a difference – every small thing does, and eventually it will come together. All of the small actions will accumulate to allow you to move forward and find the opportunities.”
Those same steps are what taught her to keep moving, even through doubt:
“Life is temporary, which is kind of a scary thing to say, but it’s going to end one day. I feel like you’ll have more regrets if you never try something than if you try and it doesn’t work out. If it doesn’t work out – as it comes – you will recount it, you will move on, and you’ll find another path. But at least you tried.”
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