Italian here. I've been employed, a freelance and also been an employer (had an ecommerce ltd).
My experience is that Italy is not a fertile place for both employers and employees because of tax pressure, corruption, lack of skilled workers and low salaries.
There's no reason for an EU citizen to choose Italy as there's more chances to succeed in other countries.
Even though CodeIgniter is indeed an easy framework to start with, I would not recommend it as it's quite an old concept and it's not being developed anymore. Laravel is more recent and not too difficult if you follow the nice docs. There's also plenty of nice articles online (especially in Tutsplus - code.tutsplus.com/search?utf8=✓&view=&search%5Bkeywords%5D=laravel&button=).
I'm Italian and moved to London 3 years ago. I had a nice 10-min commute permanent job and a mortgage but I was feeling pretty much like you. I decided to escape and spent all my savings (not much really) to move a abroad and experience something different.
I did it for me, for my job, for my family and my future. And I'm doing good (I'm a software dev in a financial company) and I really feel all these efforts were worth it.
I've learnt a lot of things and still learning, but most of all... I'm happy to have left my country to its decline and contribute with my best to UK, which is giving me the opportunity of a better living. I only live once, I can't afford to fix Italy.
I think Italy is still a little treasure chest.... but it's living in the past. My suggestion is to move away as soon as you graduate (or even now if you wish) and go to some other country like Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands or UK. I'm sure you'll be fine.
I totally agree. I'm not proud to be Italian either, but I find myself to be happy as an Italian when Italians excel in music, food or science for example..
My experience is that Italy is not a fertile place for both employers and employees because of tax pressure, corruption, lack of skilled workers and low salaries.
There's no reason for an EU citizen to choose Italy as there's more chances to succeed in other countries.
Popular companies have moved or planning to move away (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/11...).