«The data, the statistics, but even more so the daily experience, put us face to face with an unavoidable truth: we are the most trained and educated generation the South has ever had, and yet we are the one that looks to the future with the most fear».
Fabrizio Sbilordo, representative of the students of the University of Messina, drew a particularly lucid and courageous picture, in a mixture of bitterness and hope, during the inauguration of the 2025/26 academic year, presided over by the rector Giovanna Spatari with the illustrious presence of the governor of the Bank of Italy Fabio Panetta.
An event that was deeply affecting for its content and for the memory of the Iranian student Yasin Mirzaei, killed by the regime: a delegation from the large Iranian community met the rector.
Sbilordo’s words reflect the complexity of a land too often mistreated even by its own inhabitants, despite its being a hotbed of great talents famous throughout the international scene. The brain drain from Southern Italy remains a serious plague, also recognized by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella during the inauguration of last academic year.
«The situation is illustrated by the worrying numbers on our island: in the last ten years Sicily has lost almost 300,000 inhabitants» added Sbilordo. “Of these, many are young graduates: a hemorrhage of human capital, of minds seeking recognition, which impoverishes us more than any financial crisis.”
The data shows that of these 300,000 people, 200,000 are young people under 35. In this context, the commitment of UniMe is strong, in 22nd place in the ranking of the best Italian universities according to the QS World University Ranking 2026 and first among those in Sicily.
Panetta also referred to the brain drain, who often choose to pursue their careers in countries like Germany, where the earnings of a graduate are 80% higher than in Italy.
As the representative underlined, a part of the young people still choose to invest in their education in Messina, recalling the concept of “remainder”, coined by the anthropologist Vito Teti: «Not a passive inertia, nor a nostalgic resignation, but the proactive attitude of those who choose to inhabit the contradictions of their place of origin».
Therefore not Verga’s “oyster ideal”, according to which the weak should remain tied to the “rock” so as not to be devoured by the “voracious fish” of progress.
«It is necessary today to radicalize this concept, categorically rejecting the rhetoric of resilience» clarified Sbilordo. «We are not driven by adaptation to a hostile context, but by the ambition of a structural transformation that will allow us to continue our journey in this territory».
«Our Remainder – he stated – is the desire to remain geographically immobile to become vectors of historical acceleration. It is the choice to bend the present time, working so that the surrounding reality changes until it coincides with the horizon of opportunities that are usually sought elsewhere.”
«We choose to replace space escape with time travel. We don’t leave to look for a better future; we stay to import it.”
Sbilordo highlighted the improvements in the system thanks to the synergy with the institutions, recalling the goal of total coverage of scholarships, now called upon to face the challenge of timeliness. But he also denounced a critical issue: «The chronic shortage of public beds has opened the doors to the private sector, which responds to the logic of the market and not to that of the right to education».
«It is imperative to go back to building public spaces – he added – so that the University is a social elevator and never a privilege».
The representative then underlined the role of the Academy: «The University is the womb of citizenship. Where international politics erects walls, it has a moral obligation to build cultural and humanitarian bridges.”
With reference to recent deaths, Sara Campanella and Lorena Quaranta recalled: «So that the word feminicide is consigned to the archives of a barbaric past and not to the news of the present».
«Their memory – he concluded – must not only be an emotion, but a moral commitment engraved in the conscience of this University».
Finally, the reference to the restitution of the former Bank of Italy building: «We are here to demonstrate that this land is not a place from which one escapes, but to which one returns. We are ready, with the strength of our ideas, with the dignity of our study, with the courage of our Restance.”