Odessa – the Pearl of the Black Sea. Compared to Milan and praised by its inhabitants as a timeless city. My own perception, however, is entirely different. Its prestige and splendor have long since vanished. A city that likely dazzled fifty years ago seems to have hardly changed since then. Crumbling, once-beautiful townhouses, peeling facades, potholed sidewalks – this is the face of the place

today. You can see the potential that must have shone in the 1980s, but today it is nothing more than a memory. And the war is not to blame for this. Its traces are visible, of course, but above all, it is a lack of funds and a lack of vision for the future that has altered the face of this once-beautiful city. A shame.