Students and professors of the Corelli Conservatory in Messina stranded in Sri Lanka: return is ready

When in Italy it will be 1:30 AM, they will take off from Colombo in Sri Lanka heading towards Italy. They are expected to arrive at Malpensa Airport at 7:30 PM, after two layovers in China. The ordeal of Michele Amoroso, conductor of the Corelli Conservatory of Messina, who along with seven other musicians has been stranded due to the outbreak of bombings in Iran, is coming to an end. "Our conservatory managed to find a solution and we are about to return home – he explains to La Sicilia –. Even though we never felt in danger because the war is far from where we are, we experienced the inconveniences of not being able to return home as we had planned."

They were all in Colombo for a series of concerts planned as part of a project under the Pnrr that also involves the University of Palermo and Calabria. But for the seven of them, the objective difficulties were precisely those related to finding a return flight. "Naturally, the routes were modified due to the closure of airspace. We could not fly either to Dubai where all flights were canceled, nor to Turkey because they were already fully booked until the end of the month," Amoroso continues. The Corelli Conservatory then found a different route that includes two layovers in China and "fortunately they found all seven tickets. This is also an important thing – he emphasizes – especially for the three young men who are with us. Even though they are of legal age, they are only twenty years old and we wanted to stay together."