Portugal receives a growing number of immigrants, but simultaneously cannot bring back the Portuguese who emigrated to other countries. This contradiction marks the contemporary Portuguese migratory landscape.
In the district of Portalegre, the least populated in the country, the two realities cross daily. Immigrants and attempts to return of emigrated Portuguese coexist in the same territory.
This coexistence manifests in different dimensions of local life: in the work environment, in the housing market, and even in social relationships around the table. Portalegre thus becomes a symbolic example of the tensions and opportunities created by these opposite migratory flows.
