Deputy Consul General, Consulate General of Italy in Mumbai, Luigi Cascone, describes his year-long tenure in Mumbai, as “Challenging and enriching in equal parts.” “It pushes you to learn something about yourself and I couldn’t be happier,” he says.
Much before Cascone became a Diplomat, he worked as a journalist for a newspaper in Italy as well as an assistant to members of the parliament, where he managed their communication, social and traditional media.
Cascone was always keen on pursuing politics. In 2017, he fulfilled his dream of being a Diplomat and worked in Rome for four years. “We had to pick a place after my four year tenure and had a choice between Shanghai or Mumbai,” he recalls. “My younger brother, who is an architect, was working with an Italian architectural company and his first job was to design the Bandra-Versova bridge as well as the Navi Mumbai airport project. It’s a coincidence.”
However, that isn’t the reason that inspired Cascone to consider Mumbai over Shanghai. The first thing that struck him about Mumbai was the incessant honking. “It seemed vibrant, crazy and overwhelming, but it just felt that the city had so much character and that would give me an opportunity to learn so much more,” says Cascone, who made his life-altering decisions within 12 hours.
The global pandemic, however, delayed the plan. Cascone arrived in Mumbai in May 2021, during the peak of the second wave. Apart from the first three months that were mainly restricted owing to a subsequent lockdown, Cascone started to move around to learn more about the city’s ethos and stumbled upon Kathiwada City House during a watchmaking workshop.
