Titti Postiglione. From volcanologist on Mount Vesuvius to managing national emergencies

TODAY SHE IS DEPUTY HEAD OF THE CIVIL PROTECTION DEPARTMENT, BUT HER PASSION WAS SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. THEN, THANKS IN PART TO SDA BOCCONI'S EXECUTIVE MASTER IN MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS (EMMAP), SHE DECIDED TO BECOME A CIVIL SERVANT

Taking a new direction, perhaps one never considered before. Taking stock of one’s existence and putting oneself back in the game. The Svolte project by SDA Bocconi and Corriere della Sera has told many stories of change originated by the new skills obtained through study. From the stories of individuals, who have turned their careers around thanks to upskilling or reskilling, to stories of transformation and reorganization of entire companies, thanks to targeted training. These are many different stories, told in 12 videos published during this academic year, but also told in the form of a theatrical script and recited live at the closing event last April 21. Here, the story of Titti Postiglione.

Change the point of view. Maintain an open mind to allow yourself to be surprised.
Yes, if you think about it, the possibilities of a life are so many and varied that it is impossible to predict them precisely, if you remain seated without daring a little. You have to go out, talk to each other, discuss with others. You certainly change, inside and out, while still managing to remain true to yourself.

Allow me, now, to tell you a little about myself. My name is Immacolata Postiglione, but for everyone, even in emails, I'm Titti. My life is inextricably linked to Civil Protection, which I met in 1999, 23 years ago.

If I think back when I was a girl, I certainly can't say that I knew what Italian Civil Protection was. At the university I studied Geology, I specialized in Volcanology and I was so passionate about the field that I dreamed of becoming a scholar, a researcher totally devoted to my Vesuvius, that giant of my land - yes, I'm from Salerno - who has been asleep for centuries, but not many, eh.

I was waiting to discuss my doctoral thesis, one of those periods as a student when you can still afford to have free time, when you can even forget about your cell phone... little things that have become rarer over the years. Then a friend tells me: "Do you know that there is a course for Civil Protection Technician in Fabriano? Why don't you go there? It will be something that has to do with the study of the territory, of emergency risk. And you are one who’s oriented towards understanding how you can help those in difficulty."

And I listen to him. Listening to others often led me to choose quickly at a crossroads. Even the choice of Geology started from a suggestion, I wanted to be an archaeologist, but then a student of Geology galvanized me by telling me how exciting earth science was... and the words of others sometimes help you broaden horizons and look inside yourself more clearly.
So this is 1998. I throw myself in. And I go to Fabriano. To this course for Civil Protection Technician. I meet incredible people. With crazy stories. A whole new continent opens up on the planet of my imagination. The previous year there had been the earthquake in Umbria and the Marches. In those places I could have done my part. I, the apprentice researcher who studied the Vesuvius, could finally have my say, start making available to others what I had studied, I could help people in difficulty. I could also start writing my own story, which who knows maybe one day I could tell.

Today I have so many stories to tell: in 2008, after a few years as a precarious worker, I became head of SALA ITALIA, the national operations room of Italian Civil Protection. At the time it was said I was the first European woman to fill a position like that... I personally had to deal with the aftermath of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, then I was general manager of the emergency office just when there was the other dramatic earthquake in Central Italy in 2016. Now, working with the Head of Department, I am at the forefront of aid to Ukraine and people fleeing the war: in short, I am not going to bore you with the long list of events and emergencies, but I can tell you I never had the opportunity to get bored.

And I probably wouldn't have gotten bored studying Vesuvius either, you know, but my vocation would have led me to do something else anyway. I'm sure of that.

How beautiful the concept of vocation is. It is a calling, a calling that we feel in our bones, but it is a flexible call, which is molded and changes shape through the many experiences that life throws at us. This is what I try to teach the young people I am dealing with now.
I, if only for the fact that I am a few years older than you, can guide you, indeed accompany you. But I cannot be a replacement for you. Make your own mistakes. Build the road ahead of you. It will be different from the one I did and the one I would do. But that's only right. What I can do for you is to help you enrich your gaze by sharing many pieces of my experience...

To prepare you to be open or open to turning points.
My name is Titti Postiglione, I am Deputy Head of the Civil Protection Department. And I'm proud of it.

I have been working in Civil Protection for over 20 years now. It's my life. But even the life we ​​have chosen for ourselves needs continuous enrichment, stimuli and new observation angles. At a certain point in my beautiful journey, I admitted to myself that I needed to take a breath and try to experience work differently. So from 2017 to 2021 I dedicated my time to the Universal Civil Service... focusing on all those young people who dedicate a portion of their lives to volunteering while they are preparing to enter the world of adulthood.  But even there, I couldn’t avoid dealing with emergency, because I had to manage this gigantic service at the very critical moment of the pandemic, haha ​​... but everything enriches, strengthens, structures you.

For some months now I have returned to Civil Protection equipped with new tools.
Many of the tools for living and working have entered my technical endowment thanks to the Master I did here at Bocconi in 2015. Yes, I have a busy life. But the time of a lifetime is so precious that it must bear fruit to the fullest.

And here too, as you might now expect, the Master program was recommended to me by a friend. Roberto told me: "Do this Master in Management of Public Administrations, it will be essential for your growth".

He was right. Never as in that period have I realized how my actions needed an external assessment. So many decisions I made with gut instinct, so many procedures defined out of common sense, could find a systematization. I was born a scientist, a geologist, I realized how much also the social sciences are real sciences, with theories, demonstrations, rules. And then at the Master you meet so many new and surprising people, you embrace many personal views that you will carry around for your whole life... it is truly a moment of self-observation, looking at your life from a new point of view.

To young people today I say: the horizons are vast, the Earth is big and wonderful, let's keep our gaze as open and deep as possible.

I did so, by shifting from potential archeologist to geologist, from aspiring scholar of the Vesuvius to passionate practitioner of civil protection, until I became a young official of the presidency of the council of ministers, then a manager, a director with many responsibilities also at the international level.

But I'm still the same Titti who when she was 18 imagined her future on the slopes of Vesuvius, I assure you. A vocation must be built, shaped and strengthened ... then oh it takes a lot of determination, energy, passion and a little luck. My greatest fortune rhymes with trust, the trust that expert and enlightened people have offered me along the way... the same trust that today I try to transmit to young people. A trust which is not blind, but open to as many different standpoints as possible.

Look ahead, and then you can trust. This is the turning point.

by Lorenzo De Belli