Determinantes e infraestructuras de la migración: el papel de los mediadores y las redes en la migración italiana a Bogotá

The aim of this article is to discuss some results of a qualitative research carried out on Italian migrants in Bogota, Colombia, in the first half of 2020. Our focus is on the drivers and infrastructures recurring in this migratory flow. After a brief review of the literature on these issues, we present the methodology employed in our research, mainly based on qualitative (semi-structured) interviews on 31 Italians living in Bogota at the time of the survey. After that, we discuss our research findings to highlight the variety of drivers and infrastructures laying behind individual migration paths. Our analysis shows that, alongside the purely economic reasons for migration, there are other motives, often produced by mediators and personal networks, in terms of both “strong” and “weak” ties. They support not only the choice to migrate to Bogota, but also the stabilization of the migration project in the host society.