Through the hallway, a bright little girl adorned in a blue and yellow princess dress proudly leads her mother to me. I peer down at the radiant 8-year-old and ask, "Do you mind if I talk with your mother?" to which she excitedly nods her head yes and quietly arranges her homework on the table beside us.

Inside the next room, Stefania Rossi takes a seat and prepares to answer my questions. Confused, she first asks, "Why me? I am not Italian." I simply respond, "That is exactly why-because you are different and you live in Cagli." This seems to please Stefania so she leans back with a quick flash of pride lighting her eyes.

Although pure Italian by blood, Stefania was born and raised in Belgium. Following the Second World War, Italy's agricultural economy was destroyed, forcing the largest and most important wave of migration in Italy's history. In the 1950's Italians moved to Belgium, France, and Luxembourg in search of work. At the start of the migration wave, Stefania's father had traveled to Belgium to work in the dangerous coal mining industry. He was no stranger to hard work. As a child, he had been sent to northern Italy every fall and summer to work as a woodcutter, sending the money he made home to his parents to help support their large family. During World War II, he was taken to Germany to aid in the war effort. He returned home for a short time before having to move permanently to Belgium, at 24, to work in the mines.

Stefania's mother also moved to Belgium. She was 17 and still under her parents' care. Life in a foreign country was very difficult for her. In addition to not knowing French, Stefania's mother was not accustomed to the change in climate; no longer in sunny Italy, she was forced to deal with constant rain and freezing temperatures. She also could not believe the country did not sell tomatoes. To her, this was "an earthquake in her life."

Stefania's parents met, fell in love, got married, and had three children-all while in Belgium. Because she was raised in such a multilingual country, Stefania is now fluent in five languages. In school, she learned French and Dutch (Belgium's two official languages) along with English, German, and Italian. After ten years of working for an export department in Brussels that produced a type of faux fur named "Fun Fur," Stefania decided to make use of her extensive language knowledge. She enrolled in the Universitè de l'Etat è Mons and later received a Facultè des Traducteurs/Interpretes, a degree in the field of language translation and interpretation. While attending school, Stefania felt it necessary to rent a flat and live alone. Although their daughter was already 24, Stefania's parents did not like this idea. Her extended family in Italy thought it even stranger because even today in Italy, sons and daughters live with their parents until they find a wife and steady job. "This often does not happen until the age of 40!" Stefania laughs incredulously. Later, Stefania's fiancé was warned of this modern-day Bridget Jones. Her family asked him, "But do you know that she lives alone?"

Before falling in love, Stefania had no intentions of settling down. She was a self-proclaimed free spirit with dreams of traveling for the rest of her life. After all, she spoke the language of five countries! But fate had another plan in store. Every summer since Stefania had been a child, her family vacationed in Cagli, their native town. And every summer, Stefania played with the little boy who lived behind her grandparents. On her 34th summer in Cagli, Stefania and her lifelong best friend saw each other in a new light. Stefania did not return home that summer; she had a new home and a new husband in Cagli.

Much like her mother, Stefania had to cope with a very different lifestyle. Rural Cagli's long winters were hard on Stefania who was used to "big city" Brussels. "It is very still and cold here between the months of October and April," she explains. It is easy to agree with her when she describes urban life as "getting what you want when you want it." In Cagli, you must organize your life according to the weather outside, she continues. There is less daylight during the cold months, so free time is spent going to the cinema. Getting used to pausa, Italy's daily three-hour rest period, was another obstacle for Stefania. "During pausa you have to realize that things are slow," she explains. "Either change your speed or get mad!"

For the past four years, Stefania has worked for Cagli's Atrium school as an Italian to French translator. She loves her job and finds it very fulfilling but puts most emphasis on raising her daughter, Matilde.

While living in Italy, Stefania has come to realize that she would like to raise her daughter in a different manner than the "Italian way". She describes herself and her husband as "not your typical parents". Apart from their "older than other parents age difference," she says her husband is not into soccer like the majority of Italian men. Stefania describes the women she sees in Italy as very beautiful but also very concerned with their physical appearance. Most, even older women, wear striking colors and dramatic jewels-Teatrale, as she calls it. When Matilde was two years old, Stefania dressed her in a comfortable t-shirt and shorts to play in the park. Upon seeing the other children playing in beautiful dresses, Stefania was confused. She could not understand how a child could play in such extravagant clothing. A few years later, Matilde asked her mother if she could get her ears pierced. Stefania said no, explaining to her that she must give more importance to what is inside before she tends to what is outside.

"In Italy, everything revolves around the baby," Stefania explains. "But in Belgium, a new baby must get used to the way the family is. Therefore, children are quieter and not so dependent on others." This is how she tries to raise Matilde. In Italy, there is what she calls "the myth of maternity." According to Stefania, the highest goal of an Italian woman, in terms of social status, is to become a mother. "A pregnant woman in Italy is the Madonna," she says.

When I asked Stefania what she wants for her daughter she simply replied, "freedom." Now obviously her daughter is not on lock down so I asked her to expand on what she means. "I want her to be free to do what she wants-to feel really free". Sometimes Matilde wants to be a dancer and sometimes a chef, the possibilities are endless and Stefania likes that. She has learned to accept that people will call her daughter different for speaking Italian with a French accent. "She says rosso (red, in Italian) with a rolling r," Stefania laughs.

"When walking to this interview," Stefania told me, "we saw a stray dog. Matilde said, 'Oh, it's alone…he is lucky.'"