Italiane Dell'Est

  "So your boyfriend is Ukrainian too? What made you fall in love with him?" I ask my friend over the phone. Margherita is a 27-year-old Italian woman, and, just like me, she fell in love with a Ukrainian man. But fate was crueler with her: to meet her love during wartime, Margherita must travel alone for more than 1,800 km, through Italy and several other countries. On the bus, she can chat with few other passengers: almost all of them are women. Almost all of them are Ukrainian. Men cannot leave Ukraine and no foreigner visits Ukraine now, except the husbands of some Ukrainian middle aged lady. They are surprised to meet a civilian Italian woman on the bus, a young woman who undertakes that uncomfortable and perilous journey several times a year "only" to meet her beloved guy.  It's truly unusual - and romantic - to meet a Western girl who ventures into the depths of a war for love. Some Ukrainian women think she's simply a fool, while others study her wit...

  A recent trend has emerged of Western women actively seeking Eastern European men for dating or to build a more serious relationship with the aim of marriage, and statistics also show that Instagram and TikTok posts featuring Eastern men easily reach over a million views.  In Australia, for example, a very high rate of intermarriage has been observed among male immigrants from Eastern Europe, many of whom involve an Australian bride, and exactly in Sydney I met the first couple made of an Italian woman and a Russian man, who inspired me to look for a Slavic husband for myself as well. But the trend seems increasing.  There is even a trend among some Western women to no longer wish to have relationships with Western men, considering them unwilling to marry or to offer a serious commitment. Western men do not invest anymore much in relationships, and western dating culture has become a "hookup culture". By contrast, Eastern chivalry and a more traditional division of role...