An Asian man pushes a cart full of boxes, a woman with a hijab and her son head toward the fruit stands. Two young African men greet each other before going their separate ways. This is the daily colourful reality of Porta Palazzo, an area historically prone to welcoming foreigners. Since the 19th century, Turin has had a long history of accepting foreign and Southern Italian migrants who came to Turin looking for better opportunities. More recently, in the 1990s, Turin’s migrants mostly came from North Africa, South America and Eastern Europe. Today, Porta Palazzo is known as the largest outdoor market in Europe, home to people from Morocco, Tunisia, Romania, Albania, Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and China. Looking at the local social fabric, Poste Italiane has strategically established its Multilingual Project in Corso Giulio Cesare, 7. This branch has four multilingual members of staff who speak Arabic, Spanish, French, English and Italian.
The signs are in different languages, there is an automated machine that lists products in each language and a dedicated consultation room to study each one more in depth. The manager, Francesco Pace explains “we kicked off the Multilingual Project soon after our restructuring last March. The response has been immediate and great, thanks to word of mouth. Knowing that behind the till there is someone with whom dialogue will come easy and that will be able to explain the process and answer any questions was a key element to our success.” Eighty percent of the clients are Tunisian and Moroccan, followed by Nigerians, South American and Italians out of an average of 200 customers a day. They all seek different services: “Prepaid cards are usually set up to allow relatives easy access to one’s account. Phone services are also popular and we have tailored solutions to meet the needs that have been explicitly expressed. Of course, we also help customers with the paperwork for permanent residency permits. It’s been interesting to see how, thanks to these services and the confidence our customers now have in us, many of them also chose to open their checking and savings accounts here. We also offer them our DalMondo insurance plan, which allows our customer’s relatives to travel to Turin with expenses covered by Poste Italiane in case our customers are taken to the hospital or fall ill.” Of course, there are also private businesses owned by foreign nationals with very particular requirements. For them, there are also ad hoc solutions. Finally, “we are considering having a multilingual operator in the waiting room. Currently, our hostesses of different nationalities promote our services outside the main entrance.” Sometimes all it takes to open a dialogue, and begin a relationship of collaboration and trust is a hola, a bonjour, a salam or a hello.
Postafuturo MultiUtile: In the Post Office, you may schedule a Capital Accumulation Plan through a series of periodic and automatic payments, even in small amounts. Thus, you can safely build a growing capital. Postafuturo Multiutile also includes insurance benefits in case of: