“When we moved here, we started living. This is our dream and now it has come true.”
Giulia De Rocco and Luca De Angelis left Italy and have found a home in the Boden countryside, together with their son, cats and a bunch of happy Siberian huskies.
It’s not just jobs in industry and the ongoing social transformation that attract people to move to Boden. The De Angelis/De Rocco family dreamed of a place with the right living environment and found it in the countryside of the municipality of Boden. It took two years to get everything ready to move their entire life from Bergamo, Italy, but now they are here.
The dream of Scandinavia had been around for a long time as they also breed Siberian huskies. The breed is often used for dog sledding. Both the climate and space in Italy made it difficult to provide the dogs with the environment they thrive in.
“I did a lot of shows with them but it was hard to find a place in Italy where they can really live like we want them to. It’s hard to find a house with such a large plot close to nature,” says Guilia.
The dogs are her everything, they have accompanied her through all the joys and hardships of life. They mean so much that she was prepared to leave her home country to find the best place for her family and four-legged friends. And she, and the dogs, mean so much to Luca that he shared her dream of finding the right place further north to build their future together.
Forest, greenery and less congestion
“We have contacts in dog breeding in Skellefteå and when we got there we felt that we loved the forest, the greenery and that there are not so many people and crowds here”, says Luca.
Luca chose to go first to create the opportunities.
“Once we had decided, things moved quickly. I wrote a post on Facebook, in Italian, that I am a chef, can bake pizza and was looking for a job in northern Sweden. After 10 minutes, a guy, Matteo Cariota, answered “can I call you?”, says Luca.
Neapolitan pizza in Boden
The call led to contacts in Boden and a few days later he had a job at Strike Alley in Boden. Strike Alley describes itself as “Boden’s most active entertainment center”, where you can play bowling and simulator golf. But they’ve also made a name for themselves as a place where you can eat well. And that’s where Lucas’ skills and experience came in. Strike Alley now also offers authentic Neapolitan pizzas and traditional pasta dishes with a true Italian touch.
The owner of Strike Alley, Daniel Rönnbäck, immediately started looking for a home for Luca that could accommodate the whole family. He found a house in Gunnarsbyn in the countryside outside Boden. Just off the beaten track, with a plot facing the forest, but still only a few minutes from the son’s future school. Daniel bought the house and rents it to Luca.
Cold winter but warm people
While Guilia made all the arrangements for the move from Italy, in his spare time Luca started working on building generous dog runs on a large part of the plot. He also built a barbecue hut with a relaxation area on the hill overlooking the house, the dogs and the rest of the site.
His first winter will go down in history, even for inveterate northerners, as periodically very cold.
“Minus 15 to 20 is perfectly fine. When it was minus 43, it was a bit chilly, but that was an experience too”, Luca laughs.
The warmth was all the greater from the people around.
“Everyone here is fantastic. Such incredible hospitality! The neighbor has helped us a lot, those who have tractors came and asked “can I help you with the snow”. This is very important and means a lot to us,” says Luca.
Wedding and moving
At the beginning of the summer, when the nature of Norrbotten turned into a green explosion with long, bright summer nights, the couple got married. After that, the rest of the family and all eight dogs moved.
At the time of our visit, they are just starting to settle in and get settled. The dogs look like they are laughing with joy as they run around and play in their large enclosure that occupies much of the plot.
“Now it feels prefect. If you want to believe in fate, it’s probably that we would end up here,” says Giulia.
