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Comment by RaoulP | Hacker News Reader

Sicily is really stunning. You make me want to return there now…

But I’m curious (if you don’t mind) - as an accomplished programmer/entrepreneur, do you ever feel torn between wanting to live in your idyllic home of Sicily, vs. a hub like Silicon Valley? Do you feel limited in terms of what you can do, and does that matter to you?

I ask because Sicily seems close to your heart, while I think it’s also safe to assume that you would have lots of opportunity elsewhere. I imagine staying was a very conscious decision?

There are lots of wonderful but “small” corners of the world where people might face the same dilemma.

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Yeah this is a non trivial thing. Sicily is economically depressed, but what is interesting is that it is generally not culturally depressed, I mean we had geniuses like Majorana because the university of math in Catania was good once, and there are a lot of "thinkers" so you are not like alone in some island but with 5 million of people, part of which do the most desperate things and are intellectually very active. At the same time, the weather is good, the food is good, the life does not cost too much, there is a lot of history and nature. And... for people doing programming, there is the Internet, like this site. About connections with the IT system: in part I believe that in isolation you can accomplish more work, even if it is true that the group, the network, sometimes create a "chain effect", but I'm a very solitary programmer, so this setup worked for me. At the same time I don't "value" to remain where you were born: I respect a lot people that are tired form staying here and want to go away. What I miss the most is that the helathcare system in North Italy is at the same time free and among the best systems in the world. Here is decent, but not at the same level, so for serious stuff there are people going to Milan or Turin or Florence to get some procedure, and that's not cool. But, air quality is stellare compared to North, and this also is a part in the health story. Compromises...

Off-topic, but I would one day like to start a tech hub there called "Sicilian Valley". An ideal place for techies from northern Europe to spend the winter. Rent an office with your team for a week or two and have a great time.

To be fair, Catania has more fabs than any other city in Italy (2 with another fab in construction), also being home to the largest stmicroelectronics establishment in Italy, so I guess it kinda is Italy's silicon valley

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