“Everything is extremely complex”: the point of view of hospitality workers

The point of view of managers and operators that work in the welcome services addressed to Ukraininas refugees constitutes a valuable contribution to the study of the effects of the Ukrainian migration in Italy, and in this case in the city and province of Reggio Emilia, from February 24, 2022. In this regard, following semi-structured tracks, 30 hospitality professionals who work or collaborate with the five main social cooperatives engaged in dealing with the entry and integration of large flows of Ukrainian refugees were interviewed. This contribution is intended to be an analysis of what emerged, with the ambition of being able to return the complexity of different points of view. The dimension of the professional contaminates, dialogues and clashes with the dimension of the human being, of the man and woman engaged in helping other men, women and children who suddenly found themselves having to start a piece of their lives anew in places, Reggio Emilia and its surroundings, where only a few weeks earlier
they would never have thought they would have to seek refuge, and of which in many cases they did not even know the existence.