The location of the monument to the Bulgarian revolutionary who fought for the liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule is no coincidence. The Gianicolo hill is said to offer the most panoramic view of the city, and the stone eyes of the bust of the Bulgarian Vojvoda (leader of the rebels) at the end of Piazzale Garibaldi watch the teeming life of Rome day and night. It is one of the Bulgarian footprints in the Italian capital. "We regularly visit the monuments of Petko Voyvoda and Ivan Vazov and lay wreaths there," says Marian Rusinov. He expects nearly 70 Bulgarians to gather there on National Day. There will be speeches, poems and a Bulgarian choro chain dance," says the president of the oldest Bulgarian association in Italy.

"Association "Bulgaria" in Rome was founded 22 years ago. You know, at that time there was no access to today's technology and the exchange of information was vital in a big city like Rome. So we started to help each other with information about jobs, about accommodation, about doctors, about documents, everything that would interest a fellow expatriate.

As soon as we saw that there were more of us, we started to get together on major Bulgarian holidays - Rusinov continues. - We try to make sure that the tradition we remember from our childhood is revived and passed on to the new generation. We already have many children here who were born or studied in Italy. We also organise 2-3 trips a year to the biggest cities, we visit various historical monuments in Italy, and there are quite a few. Traditionally, we have marches on 3 March and 24 May in central places in Rome. Some of our compatriots regularly attend services in the so-called Bulgarian Church in the Italian capital.

We also try to help people who need work, medical treatment or who are still undocumented. And last but not least - pension papers. We have helped more than 1000 of our compatriots to get a pension in Italy. We help them prepare their documents, submit them to the relevant authorities, etc. Some of them are already pensioners here, others have returned to Bulgaria," says Marian Rusinov.

Rusinov is proud that the organisation has been self-sustaining for more than two decades. They even have their own dance company called "Dunav" and make their own costumes.

There are 4 men and 10 women dancing in "Dunav". Whenever we organise a parade with folk costumes, tourists and Italian citizens are always very curious, they immediately gather around us, ask questions - it is a kind of "cultural exchange".

Outside the festivities and rehearsals, the association's activities are organised according to life's events. And life is not easy for the seasonal workers - often they don't speak the language well, they don't have jobs organised in advance, they are just looking for ways to make a living and help their families.

In recent years, there have been far fewer people coming from Bulgaria without a definite 'destination'," says Marian Rusinov. - About 15 years ago, there were a lot of Bulgarians who were scammed by fake companies. People used to call at all hours of the day and night - "We were left here", "They said they would come to get us, but no one came"... At that time it was really difficult to help all these people. There were compatriots who were in a very bad situation, who did not even have the means to go back home - we collected money together to buy them a ticket to Bulgaria. It was really hard, but things are much better now. We mainly help people who are temporarily unemployed. Maybe 70% of the Bulgarians living in Rome are women who are domestic workers and when they change jobs they are left without a place to live until they find a new job. In such cases we come with information about our own accommodation.

As we've progressed, we started to accommodate guests, our relatives from Bulgaria, who come as tourists. We refer them to a budget hotel or possibly to people who have spare rooms," says Marian Rusinov in an interview with Radio Bulgaria.